What was Leonardo da Vinci’s bird-inspired flying machine called?

Leonardo da Vinci’s bird-inspired flying machine was called an ornithopter.

An ornithopter is an aircraft designed to fly by flapping wings, imitating the motion of birds or insects. Leonardo studied birds extensively and drew several proposed flying machines during the late fifteenth century. His designs typically placed a human pilot inside a framework connected to large wings.

The concept was scientifically ambitious, but human muscle power is not sufficient to make a practical machine of Leonardo's proposed scale flap and sustain flight. His surviving studies are therefore design investigations rather than evidence of a completed aircraft.

Leonardo's ornithopter should not be confused with his separate aerial-screw concept. The ornithopter depends on flapping wings, while a helicopter-like aerial screw depends on rotating motion to generate lift.