Stanford university has a renowned engineering department and they have come up with a way to better engineer drone by having the opportunity to study and apply the flight patterns of birds. With the inspiration of New York pigeons to drive the project, David Lentink and his colleagues have constructed a wind tunnel for birds.
Here is a link to Stanford's webpage for further detail

http://engineering.stanford.edu/news/one-kind-wind-tunnel-birds-paves-way-better-drones

and a video of Lentink on "The magic of bird flight"