![]() ![]() In order to achieve their powerful flight, they have relatively enormous pectoral (chest) muscles, making up about 25-30 percent of their total body weight. You wouldn’t know it to look at them, but Ruby-throats are packing some pretty serious muscle under those shiny feathers. Complex research techniques that involve ultraviolet light and wind tunnels are helping to improve our understanding of exactly how hummingbirds fly. Science is still learning how hummingbirds are able to achieve their fascinating flight. Scientists are used to seeing this ability among insects, such as with dragonflies, but this wing-pattern is unique in the bird world. ![]() This generates lift on both the forward and backward strokes, allowing for rock-steady hovering and practically instantaneous direction change on-the-wing through only a slight adjustment of wing-angle. They don’t so much flap their wings as they do rotate them in a figure eight pattern - at a rate of about 50 times per second. They are able to achieve these flights-of-fancy through wing movements unique to the bird family. On more than one occasion they’ve even been observed doing backwards somersaults in pursuit of tiny insect prey. Possessing the ability to hover, fly forwards, backwards, straight-up, even upside-down, and at speeds up to 60 miles-per-hour when diving, these little aerialists make all other birds look slow and plodding by comparison. Females and young males lack the red patch but still display jewel-green iridescent feathers over their heads and down their backs. Mature males are easily recognized by their bright-red iridescent throat patch. 5-cent nickel when it makes its departure in the spring. Pretty impressive for a bird that weighs less than a U.S. For comparison, the average adult human would only cover about 60 miles if they walked nonstop during that same time span. That’s how many times a Ruby-throated Hummingbird could flap its wings without a break on a 500-mile, 18-20 hour migratory flight across the Gulf of Mexico. Just how bright and colorful it appears depends upon light levels, moisture, angle of viewing, and general feather condition.ģ,860,000. The perceived color is a result of iridescence in the arrangement of their feathers. The bright-red throat patch of a male Ruby-throat actually contains no pigmentation. ![]()
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