Hhhmz! A hummingbirds flew past me while I was in the garden and yet, it still managed to halt perfectly in front of a blooming flower nearest to me. Just as soon I began to wonder, how fast do hummingbirds fly and in which way do they achieve their flight in addition to their distinctive hum.
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$\begingroup$ "distinctive humming sound"?? Are you sure you are talking about mockingbirds? $\endgroup$– mgkrebbsCommented Aug 22, 2019 at 1:11
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$\begingroup$ Thanks mgkrebbs, I meant to write hummingbird although I wrote mockingbird. $\endgroup$– aitíaCommented Aug 22, 2019 at 1:13
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1$\begingroup$ Have youo tried to google your question? Are you talking of the flapping frequency or the distance they can travel per unit of time? $\endgroup$– Remi.bCommented Aug 22, 2019 at 2:05
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$\begingroup$ You also need to differentiate between the speed they can achieve for a short distance, and their average speed in migrations. Answers are easily found with a search engine: about 30 mph in level flight, up to 60 mph in dives, and the rufous hummingbird can migrate between southern Mexico to Canada & Alaska in a couple of months. $\endgroup$– jamesqfCommented Aug 22, 2019 at 4:26
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1 Answer
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Hummingbirds can give the impression by their small body size that they are very fast and of course they are. The Anna-Hummingbird, about ten centimeters in size, reach speeds of 385 body lengths per second (27. 3 m/s or 98 km/h). So they can get acceleration values of about ten times the acceleration due to gravity.
To the comparison: Peregrine falcons come on speeds of up to 200 body lengths per second in the nosedive and fighter jets, like e. g. the MiG-25 (a Mach 3 fast interceptor), reach only the approximately by 40 times of its total length by one second.
They got this enormous achievement mostly by their biological construction.
For example: the heart of the hummingbird is very large in relation to the body and beats 400 to 500 times per minute, its respiratory rate is up to 250 strokes per minute, so lots of oxygen gets into their wings and they can perform so strong. During sleep, many hummingbirds reduce their heart rate to save energy.
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$\begingroup$ Thanks for answering Mr. Amstrand, are you able to expand on hummingbird's biological construction? $\endgroup$– aitíaCommented Aug 22, 2019 at 11:40