Hummingbirds in slow motion: the figure-8 wingbeat
Slowed way down you can finally see the figure-8 the wings make to hover — the ‘how does it work?’ answer for the bird feeder.
National Geographic's high-speed footage of hummingbirds hovering, shaking off rain and drinking, slowed down enough to see each wingbeat. Hummingbirds are the only birds that can truly hover: the wing traces a horizontal figure-8, producing lift on both the forward and backward stroke, at roughly 50 to 80 beats a second.