Quick, agile, and fierce, the hummingbird is an amazing creature. Small for a bird but much larger than an insect, it’s able to hover in place and eat nectar directly Keep reading
Tag: hummingbird
How the Hummingbird Got Its Hum
Summer hikes in the Rocky Mountains are frequently pierced by a hum that can deepen to a bomber-like buzz as hummingbirds flit by. They’re so small and fast that they’re Keep reading
Flying Through Waterfalls
Swifts and starlings often make their nests behind waterfalls. To explore how these birds traverse their watery curtain, researchers observed hummingbirds, a smaller sister species, flying through an artificial waterfall. Keep reading
Hummingbird Flight in Slow Motion
Hummingbirds are impressive, acrobatic flyers. Their figure-8 wing stroke pattern produces about 70% of their lift on the downstroke, and the remainder during the backward upstroke. But their tails and Keep reading
Audubon Photography Awards
Several of this year’s Audubon-Photography-Award-winning photos feature birds interacting with fluids. The Grand Prize Winner, by Joanna Lentini, features a diving double-crested cormorant. Like many other species, these cormorants launch Keep reading
Hovering
Nectar-drinking species of hummingbirds and bats are both excellent at hovering – one of the toughest aerodynamic feats – but they each have their own ways of doing it. Hummingbirds Keep reading
How Hummingbirds Drink
Hummingbirds are incredible acrobatic fliers, capable of hovering for more than 30 seconds at a time, even in windy conditions. Their feeding habits are equally impressive. Many species of hummingbirds Keep reading
Hummingbird Drinking
Hummingbirds are master acrobats, able to hover and drink simultaneously before flitting off to the next flower. At first glance, you might expect that their tongues are simply tiny straws Keep reading
Fluttering Feathers
Birds do not always vocalize in order to make their songs. The male African broadbill, shown in the top video above, makes a very distinctive brreeeet in its flight displays, but Keep reading
Hovering Hummingbirds
Hummingbirds are incredible flyers, especially when it comes to hovering. To hover stationary and stable enough to feed, the hummingbird’s flapping pattern not only has to generate enough lift, or vertical Keep reading