wingbeats

Noun

wingbeat (plural wingbeats)

1. A single stroke made in flight by the wings of an animal that flies by beating its wings.
   • The birds spotted me the moment I approached. A strong southwest gale was blowing. At times, one or both of them would swing almost directly above me and without a single wingbeat remain almost motionless, in defiance of the wind, for moments at a time.1961, Edmund C. Jaeger, Desert Wildlife, Stanford University Press, page 169