This is bird note.

In the long history of life on earth,

vertebrates evolved powered flight just three times. Among reptiles, the now extinct pterosaurs,

among mammals, the bats, and of course birds. Bats and birds have evolved very different ways of flying. This starts with

wing structure. A bird like the red-tailed hawk, for example, has stiff feathers

projecting back from lightweight fused arm arm, and hand bones.

The big brown bats, on the other hand, found hunting for insects above many neighborhoods,

have flexible wings of membrane stretched between elongated fingers.

While the Hawk uses the powerful down strokes of its wings to fly,

the bat supports its weight on the upstroke as well by twisting its wings backward.

Bats appear to row through the air, flexing their wings like we use our hands to swim.

They can fold their wings into different shapes to change directions suddenly to catch flying insects.

Although their agility in flight is no match for a bats, many birds fly with much greater speed.

The Hawk can flex its wings into a tight aerodynamic shape to swoop down on prey.

Both of these highly evolved groups of vertebrates have been very successful and together prove there's more than one way to fly.

For Bird Note, I'm Ariana Rimmel. You're going to be.