Why use a flash arm?

I am new to bird photography and haven't even bought a flash yet but am starting to do research before making my investment.

I was thinking of mounting my Bigma on a Manfrotto 393 gimbal head and using a flash with better beamer just mounted on the hot shoe. I see many of the people here saying they have a flash arm on their wimberly setup.

I don't quite understand the point of having a flash arm for shooting birds 50 feet+ away from you. If anyone could enlighten me or point me to a appropriate link I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
Matt

With the extra height and the flash not hitting your subject completely straigh-on you can help minimize and often completely eliminate the infamous "steel eye".

Some brackets (arms) allow you to keep the flash above the camera when you flip your gear in portrait instead of having it go sideways.

With the sizes of some of the lenses used you may need a flash bracket to lift the flash unit higher in order to help the light clear the lens barrel and avoid an ugly shadow being cast.

Daniel,

I knew there had to be a good reason. Thanks so much for responding. Gives me a bit more to consider in the lighting equation.

regards,Matt

Yeap, what Daniel said!!

Also, If you can get the flash more than 3 degrees or so off of the lens axis, you can avoid some of the "red eye" in nocturnal critters.