{"id":35156,"date":"2015-11-16T05:36:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-16T12:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=35156"},"modified":"2015-11-16T07:19:52","modified_gmt":"2015-11-16T14:19:52","slug":"american-kestrel-an-unusual-view-of-the-alulae-bastard-wings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/16\/american-kestrel-an-unusual-view-of-the-alulae-bastard-wings\/","title":{"rendered":"American Kestrel &#8211; An Unusual View Of The Alulae (bastard wings)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Recently I photographed a male American Kestrel in the middle of a wing-stretch and that pose really put\u00a0his alulae on display. First, for those unfamiliar with the alula I include a description and summary of their function, below (largely\u00a0taken from a previous post I made\u00a0on the subject).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The alula (plural <em>alulae<\/em>)\u00a0is the freely moving first digit on the leading edge of the wing of modern birds.\u00a0 In Latin, alula means &#8220;winglet&#8221;. It is the birds \u201cthumb\u201d and is covered by three to five small flight feathers.\u00a0 The alula is commonly referred to as the \u201cbastard wing\u201d\u00a0(one of several definitions of the word bastard is \u201cof abnormal shape or irregular size<em>\u201c)<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Normally the alula is held flush along the surface of the wing and is very difficult to see but when landing or flying at very slow speeds (like hovering) the alula moves forward and upward which produces a small slot on the leading edge of the wing and it becomes more visible.<\/li>\n<li>The function of the alula is similar to that of the slats on the leading edge of the wings of aircraft \u2013 to increase the angle of attack of the wing and\u00a0produce lift, thus helping to prevent a stall\u00a0during slow\u00a0flight.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"35157\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/16\/american-kestrel-an-unusual-view-of-the-alulae-bastard-wings\/american-kestrel-1329-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/american-kestrel-1329-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,720\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;6.3&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Ron Dudley&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS 7D Mark II&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1445851693&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;700&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;500&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0003125&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"american kestrel 1329 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/american-kestrel-1329-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-35157\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/american-kestrel-1329-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"american kestrel 1329 ron dudley\" width=\"900\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/american-kestrel-1329-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/american-kestrel-1329-ron-dudley-300x240.jpg 300w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/american-kestrel-1329-ron-dudley-150x120.jpg 150w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/american-kestrel-1329-ron-dudley-400x320.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><em><strong>1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"_Tgc\">As the kestrel stretched he gave me an angle on the alulae that I hadn&#8217;t seen before (they&#8217;re the pointy projections coming off\u00a0 the top of each wing). Usually they&#8217;re held flat against the front of the wing and can&#8217;t be easily\u00a0seen but this pose and angle\u00a0made them obvious, even while perched. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve done some research on the alulae in the past\u00a0and apparently there&#8217;s some question as to whether or not birds have muscular control over these little winglets or they\u00a0open and function\u00a0automatically in response to air flow. Or I suppose it could even be a combination of both.<\/p>\n<p>I keep looking at this image for a clue to the answer to that question but I get conflicting cues. Perhaps one day we&#8217;ll know for sure. In the meantime I thought this look at the alulae was an intriguing one.<\/p>\n<p>Ron<\/p>\n<p><em>Note: For those interested, the alulae open in flight can be seen <a href=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2013\/03\/23\/the-alula-bastard-wing-of-a-kestrel-in-flight\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Addendum: As an afterthought I decided to include a highly cropped version of the previous image to show a little more detail<\/em>. <em>If you look very carefully you can also see the cone (tubercle)\u00a0inside the left\u00a0nostril that falcons are known for.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"35176\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/16\/american-kestrel-an-unusual-view-of-the-alulae-bastard-wings\/american-kestrel-1329-big-crop-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/american-kestrel-1329-big-crop-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;6.3&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Ron Dudley&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS 7D Mark II&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1445851693&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;700&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;500&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0003125&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"american kestrel 1329 big crop ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/american-kestrel-1329-big-crop-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-35176\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/american-kestrel-1329-big-crop-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"american kestrel 1329 big crop ron dudley\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/american-kestrel-1329-big-crop-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/american-kestrel-1329-big-crop-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/american-kestrel-1329-big-crop-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/american-kestrel-1329-big-crop-ron-dudley-400x286.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recently I photographed a male American Kestrel in the middle of a wing-stretch and that pose really put his alulae on display.<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/16\/american-kestrel-an-unusual-view-of-the-alulae-bastard-wings\/\"><span>Continue reading<\/span><i class=\"crycon-right-dir\"><\/i><\/a> 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