Hummingbirds can hover in one place by beating their wings extremely fast.

The longer version

Hovering needs lift on both the forward and backward stroke. A hummingbird rotates its whole wing at the shoulder so the leading edge stays angled into the air through the entire beat, and the wing tip traces a shallow figure of eight rather than simply flapping up and down. Tilting that lift against gravity holds the bird still.

The beat is fast enough that the wings blur and hum, which is where the common name comes from. The cost is steep: the flight muscles burn energy at rates matched by almost no other vertebrate, so the bird feeds constantly and drops into a cooled, torpid state overnight to survive until dawn.

Where this entry sits

Here you will find feathered trivia about flight, migration, nests, eggs, and the songs birds sing. Expect short surprising facts on penguins, owls, hummingbirds, and other familiar birds from gardens, forests, wetlands, and distant coastlines. The full list sits on the Birds page, where every entry is listed in order.