Takeoff Once the rufous hummingbird is well fed, he’s ready to take off on his journey. Unlike most birds, hummingbirds don’t migrate in fl ocks. So, he’ll fl y solo. T is bird may be tiny, but he’s a strong fl ier.
To power its wings, a hummingbird has the largest breast muscles of any bird, relative to its size. T e wings themselves are built to help the hummer do some amazing fl ight maneuvers. For example, his wings can rotate almost
180°. So instead of just fl apping up and down, his wings can beat in a fi gure-eight pattern. T is adaptation allows him to hover like a helicopter. Hovering is a key to his success in feeding off fl owers. Hummingbirds were given their name
because of the unique humming sound they make. It’s the sound of their wings beating. When the bird hovers, his wings beat very fast—as many as 62 times per second. No wonder they look like a blur to human eyes. Hovering is an important ability, but not the
only fl ying skill a hummingbird has. He can do an upside-down roll, like a fi ghter plane. He can fl y backward, too. T e only thing his body isn’t suited for is
walking. A hummingbird fl ies so much that its feet aren’t well developed. T ey are good for perching but not much else.
Pit Stop As strong as he is, this rufous hummingbird can’t fl y the entire distance from Alaska to Mexico all at once. He’ll need to stop along the way to rest and refuel. T e route he’ll follow is sometimes called a nectar corridor. It takes him to spots where nectar-rich wildfl owers are in peak bloom. He returns to the same spots year aſt er year. He knows where to go because he’s
memorized the route. A hummingbird’s brain makes up a whopping 4.2 percent of its total body weight. Proportionally, that’s the largest brain of any bird’s. By comparison, human brains make up only 2 percent of body weight. A hummingbird’s big brain holds a lot of important information. Studies have shown that hummingbirds can
remember every fl ower they’ve ever visited. One study showed that a rufous hummingbird could learn the location of a fl ower aſt er a single visit. In that experiment, scientists moved a fl ower
the bird had just visited to a spot 2 meters away. When the bird returned 15 minutes later, it looked for the fl ower at its original spot. T en it fi gured out the new location. Hummingbirds can also fi gure out how long
to wait between visits so the fl owers have time to make more nectar.
How Hummingbirds Fly
FORWARD Launches from perch at full speed
6 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER
UPWARD Produces lift both on the downstroke and the upstroke
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