Birds in flight

The shapes of flying birds have a different dynamic than the shapes of birds with wings neatly folded. They move the composition in a different way. I have two main ideas when I look at depicting a bird in flight. When we're children we all paint birds flyings as a V shape. And to me that V shape is an accurate if abstract representation of a bird in flight. That idea is about the diagonals, the llines and patterns that the flying wings create and the way the diagonals flow into the lines created by the other wings (if there are multiple birds in the painting). The other idea is the beauty of the movement, the beauty of the way wings function; they way the feathers are shaped, patterned and organized.