Hover craft. How do hummingbirds do it?

[Dover]

June 23, 2005

High-Tech Pictures Reveal How Hummingbirds Hover


Image: COURTESY OF OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY

Hummingbirds are famous for their hovering ability, which lets them linger in front of flowers and feast on their nectar. But just how the creatures manage to stay aloft has intrigued researchers for years. New findings published this week in the journal Nature indicate that when it comes to flying, a hummingbird's style is halfway between that of a bird and an insect.
Previous investigations into the flight of the hummingbird had suggested that it could be employing the same mechanisms as insects, which often hover and dart in a manner similar to the bird. "But a hummingbird is a bird, with the physical structure of a bird and all of the related capabilities and limitations," explains Douglas Warrick of Oregon State University. "It is not an insect and it does not fly exactly like an insect." To unravel the hummingbird's aerial secrets, Warrick and his colleagues used a technique called digital particle imaging velocimitry (DPIV). Usually employed by engineers, DPIV uses microscopic particles of olive oil that are light enough to be moved to and fro by the slightest changes in air currents. As a pulsing laser illuminates the droplets for short periods of time, a camera captures them on film. From the resulting images, the scientists determined exactly how the bird's wings move the air around them....cont'd

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=0002A840-B9B9-12B9-B9B983414B7F0000

[evlbstrd]

1. Ain't Science cool?

And I want to see the video.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. I have hummingbirds that visit my garden :^)

[Dover]

3. Me too. And I've noticed that particularly when I where a favorite

bright red 'gardening shirt' of mine, they hover right in front of me. They are wonderful!

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Yep I get hummingbirds, bees, butterflies. It's wonderful :^)

[BlueJazz]

4. I love this kind of stuff..and research...It's incredibly interesting...