The Alpine ChoughLiliana KolarAward: Top 100
School: marist high school The Alpine Choughs are natural physicists. Living between an altitude of about 10, 000 feet and the start of a mountain's snow line, the Alpine Chough soars on air currents for short periods before tucking their long, broad wings with deeply slotted wing-tips and swooping downwards towards the ground. As they near the ground, the birds straighten out and glide upwards, masterfully riding the air currents once again. The birds fly seemingly vertical along the rock faces of mountains with ease even when there is little wind. When gliding, the Alpine Choughs appear as though they are stationary, caught hanging in the air. Their instinctual understanding of aerodynamics is what ultimately allows the Choughs' graceful movement and effortless flight. The birds take advantage of air currents, particularly updrafts created when wind hits a mountain and is forced upward. Riding these rising currents allow Choughs to reach incredible altitudes without flapping their wings thus conserving energy. This explains why Choughs appear to "hover" or stay stationary in the air: they're actually balancing the upward force of the air with gravity. Without ever being taught, Alpine Choughs have mastered Newton's First Law of Motion, which states that if forces on an object are balanced, the object will keep doing what it's already doing. 
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