...Bret W. Tobalske; Wendy L. Peacock; Kenneth P. Dial ABSTRACT It has been proposed elsewhere that flap-bounding, an intermittent flight style consisting of flapping phases interspersed with flexed-wing bounds, should offer no savings in average mechanical power relative to continuous flapping unless...

.... The shift from flap-gliding at slow speeds towards flap-bounding at fast speeds was consistent with reducing mean power output relative to continuous flapping. The starlings often combined more than one non-flapping posture within a single non-flapping period. Transitions between non-flapping postures...