THE STORY BEHIND THE SATIRE · Lund, Sweden · Oct 17, 2026

Nightjar Wings Rack Up Air Miles and Terrible Mileage

What happened

ScienceDaily featured Lund University’s European-nightjar research on October 17. In the peer-reviewed PLOS Biology study, researchers flew five nightjars in a wind tunnel and measured their wakes at different speeds. The birds’ broad, slotted wingtips supported slow flight and maneuvering but produced a double-tip-vortex pattern and lower span efficiency at faster cruise; the team also measured an outer-wing upstroke that generated thrust, a feature previously associated mainly with bats and hummingbirds.

Why it matters

The result replaces the tidy idea of a long-distance migrant as a machine optimized only for economical cruising. Nightjars use the same wings to migrate between Europe and southern Africa and to hunt insects slowly at dusk, so evolution preserves a workable compromise rather than a single-purpose optimum. The authors also identify a possible design clue for flapping drones: when a wing cannot fold much on the upstroke, using that stroke for thrust may recover useful work.

The Blappos angle

Verified study findings and engineering inference end above. The Blappos interpretation: the nightjar earns elite air miles while the aerodynamics department denies its mileage claim. The card’s scientists, route map, gauges and visible smoke are invented visual shorthand, not a copied figure or a claim that the bird understands expense reports.

Read ScienceDaily’s October 17 report and the open PLOS Biology study ↗

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