Question

Briefly, how is a hummingbird’s wing stroke different than, say, a dove’s?

Answer 1

Answer : This is really an interesting question which helps us wonder the nature of humming birds. Before we analyse the bird's movements, we must understand an important rule of the nature which states that the smallest birds must beat their wings really fast than the larger ones to stay aloft. The humming birds are really obedient to this law of nature as they flap their wings very fast. It is found by the reaserchers that the humming birds flap its wings upto 70 times per second. So we can imagine its heart rate would be even higher which is around 1260 beats per minute. Since they should not risk losing muscle power in this process, there is an another law they should follow which is humming birds need to eat constantly to keep themselves away from tiredness.

Now let us analyze the bird in detail and try to understand how its different from birds like dove. Another important distinguishing factor is that the humming bird's wing stroke. They can fly left, right, up, down, backwards and also upside down. The doves cannot attempt to fly backwards but the humming birds are the only birds that can fly backwards for any length of time. This is because of their muscles and the wings structure. They can flap their wings in a figure-8 pattern and can also hover at one spot.The humming birds have a great memory power as they can remember every flower they visited. Studies reveal that they are also remembering the humans who feed them. So this leads us to analyze the brain of the bird. The humming bird is perhaps the only bird which has a brain larger than its own body size. This is again a distinguishing feature which makes it stand unique from other birds like dove. They are naturally very smart.