Natural History Wanderings

Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Image via Wikipedia

Unlike most birds which only produce lift when their wings flap down, Hummingbirds also get lift on their upstroke.  Nature News reported on a study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society on Biological Sciences, that used X-rays to learn that Ruby-throated Hummingbirds invert their wings by twisting their wrists.  This creates a motion of flipping the wing back and forth, which is more typical of a fruit fly than a bird. Additional research will show if other hummingbirds have the same flight physiology.

Read more at:
Royal Society on Biological Sciences Morphological and kinematic basis of the hummingbird flight stroke: scaling of flight muscle transmission ratio
Nature News Hummingbird flight has a clever twist 

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