(of a bird, insect, or other winged creature) fly away.
‘Meanwhile, overhead, several woodcreepers cling to tree trunks, ready to snatch insects that take wing to avoid being trampled.’
‘The crow preened its feathers and took wing again, gliding away into the trees.’
‘My foot encountered a twig, and it snapped loudly in my hearing, causing a flock of black creatures that had been roosting in a neighboring tree to take wing.’
‘But the birds always acted independently and never took wing together.’
‘Families of busy mynahs chirruped, foraged for grasshoppers, and then trilled when they took wing as we approached.’
‘Opening with a shot of a magnificent bald eagle taking wing over the vast conifer forests of Alaska, the film rapidly slides into a ‘do it by numbers’ action thriller and the cliches come thick and fast.’
‘The ducks took wing, the multi-hued wading birds waddled off, and the once ubiquitous bass abandoned their breeding grounds in the former river basin - much to the dismay of hunters and sport fishermen.’
‘On such an evening the local bat population takes wing, hundreds of them, feeding on the rising midges.’
‘One evening, just as a superb, palest grey cock hen-harrier drifted into view above the reeds, two merlins took wing.’
‘Suddenly and for no apparent reason all these wigeon took wing accompanied by a wild chorus and a mighty roar of wings.’
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