#can you tell that i really like bird skywings and bat nightwings

[ravioliet]

some sketches of a couple new ocs!! these guys are very silly to me you will probably be seeing more of them in the future

[andyteacupcultist]

Aha, flight facts!

(feel free to ignore this/do a lot of sprinkling of "I like this better", I am merely obsessed with wings and need to tell people all about them)

There kinda four major kinds of wings though the exact way they work can also somewhat depend on critter size; as a rule of thumb smaller critters are much better at taking off and doing turns.

Most big birds that are good fliers have something closer to gliding wings since the costs of active flight tend to increase as body size increases.

Also, bats are generally much better at maneuvering due to their finer control of their wings (they have muscles in the membrane as well as a lot of basically mini-whiskers to sense air currents) so with webbed wings you can generally assume they're all at least pretty decent at maneuvering.

Elliptical wings are short and rounded. They are what a lot of small songbirds and bigger burst fliers that only really fly when absolutely needed (think peacock, pheasant, turkey) have.

Usually corvids and owls are also counted among them but they are not nearly as extreme an example as the previously mentioned. (Though I personally would put some owls closer to passive soaring but without the slots due to the lack of thermals at night. They are silent fliers due to the hairlike fuzzy edges of their feathers which muffle sound.)

These wings generally are good for:

Quick takeoffs and landings

Extremely high maneuverability (in smaller fliers up to hovering)

Reasonable speeds

The cost of them are mainly that they are high drag, which means high energy use, low endurance and not being quite as fast as those with pointed wings are.

Sounds like Mudwings and Rainwings would fall under this to some extent unless you wanna make Mudwings high energy and speedy. Might also apply to Rainwings except for the "Really quick takeoff" bits? Also kinda Nightwings but technically you could apply owl soundproofing to anything that doesn't require an insane amount of wingbeats like the smaller end of elliptical or high speed wings.

Passive soaring wings are long and rounded, they are often slotted to prevent stalling (basically, if you get too slow the air stops flowing over the wing correctly and you kinda just fall down) but webbed wings can kinda make that redundant maybe. Lots of big predatory birds like storks and eagles have these, also vultures and such. and can thus fly very slowly.

Small birds tend to not really have these AFAIK since being a slowly moving target in the big wide sky is...kinda not a good idea if you're tiny.

These wings are generally good for:

Flying/circling very slowly (But rarely/only barely hovering)

Using very little energy

Making use of natural updrafts

Flying for a very long time

The downside if that they're not particularly fast (and if you did try to go fast you would get a ton of drag) and not not super good at maneuvering compared to others. Kinda the "boring but practical" option but I am kinda biased. This doesn't necessarily preclude quick dives though.

Sounds like it may fit for Sandwings and Skywings based on what you said? Also typically what's applied to Skywings. Leafwings sound like they'd be between this and elliptical, like a crow; decent at both, can look fairly drifty? Guessing Silkwings would be more like a oversized version of elliptical wings since that's probably closest to how one may describe butterfly flight. Comparatively big wings but not specifically designed for gliding, just for slow flapping.

High speed wings are short and pointed. Kinda what you get in swallows but also pigeons and some pursuit predators, especially those that live in more crowded/forested environments. Also seen in some seabirds that don't venture too far from the coast as these are quite small and aerodynamic and drag matters a lot more in the water so they make pretty good flippers.

Rarer in big birds but swans and geese also have them, their wings being comparatively short/small just means that takeoff is a absolute nightmare and they need a huge amount of running. Though for smaller birds (as big as ducks) this is often not the case. Ducks can basically start vertically from a jump (they are much underestimated fliers).

These wings are generally good for:

Very high speeds

Decent maneuverability

They also have low drag but are still quite high energy because. Well, they go zoom. On some level have no option but to go zoom.

I'd say this is very likely for Seawings since these have low enough drag for swimming. Might also work for Hivewings unless you want to go more insect/hummingbird (would it work with the physics? No. Would anything work with physics at the size of these dragons? Also no, so screw it).

Active soaring wings are long and narrow. Mostly seen in birds spending a lot of time at sea and often engaging in using more active currents (rather than thermals) and dynamic soaring such as frigatebirds, terns, albatrosses and such.

Many birds with these are actually surprisingly nimble, but some, especially the bigger ones like the albatross very much does nor have the muscles for active flight and as such is much more ponderous (also bad at taking off and landing).

These wings are generally good for:

Flying a long time

Using air currents

Using little energy

Turning surprisingly well

They also have low drag, meaning that in the right wind situations they can get pretty fast, though they can also be very slow if they want to be. I'm pretty sure they need help or at least a long time to reach high speeds though, but don't quote me on that.

Main issues are drag underwater (where aerodynamics will not help you if you're lugging around absolutely massive wings) and sheer size. Very not inside wings.

(But best wings. I am not biased.)

I think you wanted to give these to icewings, in which case I'd recommend figuring out some sort of "hold arm close to body and propel with strong wing hands" mechanism or something if you don't just want to handwave it.

Flight related WoF tribe hcs

Most RainWings don't actually know how to take flight from the ground, having been in the trees their whole lives. They also tend to dip and swerve and find it difficult to fly in a straight line even in open sky, because they're so used to having branches to weave and glide through. Glory is an exception and has a very unique flight pattern, being a RainWing who was raised apart from other RainWings.

NightWings fly silently like an owl.

SkyWings can soar and circle for long periods of time because their wings are just so dang big. They are the most well adapted dragons to high altitudes as well and can fly higher than other dragons for longer periods. They can also fly upside down.

HiveWings dart and buzz and hover. They sound kinda like a helicopter. It takes a lot of energy so they need to eat a lot of sugar.

SandWings can also soar for pretty long periods, they naturally try not to flap their wings very often to conserve energy. Some of them tend to tilt their wings up and wobble on the wind like a vulture.

SeaWings take the longest of the Pyrrhian tribes to learn how to fly, due to lack of necessity from living in the water.

All dragons need to take a bit of a running start in order to take off.