Birds have long been our inspiration for flight, and researchers at Princeton University have found a new trick in their arsenal: covert feathers. These small feathers on top of birds’ wings lay ...

Unlike the larger contour and flight feathers that streamline a bird’s body, these covert feathers are smaller, softer, and arranged in layers, like overlapping shingles on a roof. They tend to ...

Postdoctoral researcher Girguis O. Sedky sitting inside of the wind tunnel, showing the covert feather-inspired flaps attached to the 3D-printed model airplane wing. The flaps deploy automatically ...

Birds have long been our inspiration for flight, and researchers at Princeton University have found a new trick in their arsenal: covert feathers. These small feathers on top of birds’ wings lay ...

Numerous bird species feature small covert feathers layered on their wings. As the name implies, these feathers remain hidden flat against the wing during normal flight but flare to mitigate ...