Photo: Xavi Bou, Common swifts in Barcelona, Catalonia
RESEARCH

Flight Path Patterns

Capturing the graceful movement of birds on Migratory Bird Day 2021

Photographer Xavi Bou has captured the motion of birds in flight in his project Ornitographies. The long-exposure style photographs, known as chronophotographs,  show corkscrew twists of movement, ripples and spirals as the birds move across the sky.

"I wished to know what the shape of their flight in the sky would look like if our perception of time was different"
Xavi Bou, Bird Photographer
Ornitographies, emerged from Bou’s curiosity in revealing nature’s hidden, patterns, rather than an interest in the science behind bird movements. He documented different species, from flamingoes to swifts, and revealed different flight patterns depending on the bird.
Photo: Xavi Bou, Ornitographie 06, Ciconia ciconia, white stork, swamp of Empordà, Catalonia
Photo: Xavi Bou Ornitographie #4, Sturnus vulgaris, Common starling, Utxesa swamp, Catalonia
Photo: Xavi Bou Ornitographie
Photo: Xavi Bou Ornitographie
Photo: Xavi Bou Ornitographie