Keywords: locomotion, motion planning, verification, control, robotic birds, perching Abstract: Locomotion in fluids (and on terrain) often involves complex nonlinear dynamics and non-trivial notions of stability including limit cycles and dynamically stable maneuvers. In this talk I will describe some new algorithms for automatically verifying stability (via a Lyapunov function) and estimating regions of attraction for dynamic nonlinear locomotion. These tools have important implications for motion planning and feedback design, which I will demonstrate by describing our attempts to build robots that fly like a bird and execute post- stall maneuvers to land on a perch.