Meet The Hummingbird, The Only Bird In The Whole World That Has The Ability To Fly Backwards

They love to hover while feeding, but use a perch if available as they waste energy hovering, which is inefficient

Maryjane

• Published in Animal Stories
• December 6, 2022

If you've ever witnessed a hummingbird hovering, you may have been in awe of their extraordinary physical prowess. In fact, one of a hummingbird's most instinctive behaviors is hovering.

A hummingbird that hovers is literally suspended in midair; although it may appear to be still, its wings are actually beating rapidly. Hummingbirds occasionally hover while feeding, but they seem to favor perching.

This is probably because hovering uses more energy, which makes it less effective. Their distinctive flight pattern, which resembles flying insects more than other birds, holds the key.

The way that most birds flap their wings is in an up-and-down motion, but a hummingbird's pattern involves a lot more motion. Since this flight pattern is very taxing on hummingbird wings, they are extremely strong and stiff to prevent breaking.

Hummingbirds twist their wings as they flap forward and backward. As they hover, the majority of the weight on their wings is supported by their wrists.

Because of this forward-backward flapping pattern, the hummingbird can get around 25% lift on the upstroke and about 75% lift during the downstroke. Hummingbirds are able to fly in reverse too.

In actuality, they are the only bird species worldwide capable of doing this. The same flight abilities that enable hummingbirds to hover also allow them to fly backward.

Again, its distinctive flapping motion allows it to not only hover but also to make small corrections to move in any direction.

Redditor u/SingLikeTinaTurner has this interesting piece of information to share with the TodayILearned subreddit group

This is the hummingbird and it is the only bird that can fly backwards

The hummingbird might just fly away if danger comes or if it felt the need to flee for whatever reason. If it were perched, it would take longer to lift off, so this saves time.

Additionally, it makes it easier and quicker for the hummingbird to move up, down, sideways, backwards, or forward than it would be able to if it were starting from a perched position.

Here are what redditors had to say in regards to the information

According to this Redditor, hummingbirds can't walk

Lol... It's the second Redditor's comment for me

Other birds as a defense mechanism can fly backwards for a short limited bit

They flew back and forth, up and down, all over

According to this Redditor, the Scopus Wopus flies backwards because it doesn't like the wind in its face

For this Redditor, it's just a dragonfly

I love the sound of that

Okay

Hummingbirds are no different from other birds in that they all produce some noise when flying. The bird's wings are cutting through the air, making noise as they flap.

Hummingbirds hover because it makes it possible for them to quickly and easily change directions when they need to move. Drop your thoughts about this bird in the comments section below.

Maryjane