Fig. 5. Gliding perching sequence (Run 9 of Table 1) taken using high-speed digital video camera. Time of frame t is shown at upper left of each panel, referenced to the point of maximum wing flexion t=0 ms (D). Phase 1 (A): gliding approach. Alula begins to peel upwards; tail flicked up and back. Phase 2 (B–D): pitch-up manoeuvre. Wrist sweeps forward. (E) Lesser underwing coverts begin to deflect from wrist (red arrow); alula starts to protract; wing begins to straighten; tail spreads and pushes downwards and forwards. (F) Lesser underwing coverts deflecting in travelling wave from wrist towards shoulder (red arrow). (G) Lesser underwing coverts fully deflected (red arrow). Phase 3 (H): deep stall. Wings outstretched to give parachute-like shape. An animation of the complete sequence at 500 frames s^–1 is provided in supplementary material Movie 5.