can birds fly straight up

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This audio story is brought to you by BirdNote, a partner of the National Audubon Society. BirdNote episodes air daily on public radio stations nationwide.

When naturalist A.R. Ammons wrote, “birds are flowers flying, and flowers are perched birds,” he may have had hummingbirds in mind. Their eye-catching iridescence sparkles in the sun.

One hummingbird commonly seen west of the Rockies is the Rufous Hummingbird. East of the Rockies, you’ll see the Ruby-throat.

The hummingbird is the only bird that can truly hover. It manages this by flapping its wings 20 to 80 times a second. It can fly straight up and down. Backwards and forwards. Or upside down. And up to 75 miles an hour. But don’t worry, it won’t run into you. This bird can slow down from 25 miles an hour to a dead stop in a space no longer than your index finger.

And even if it did collide with something, it isn’t likely to cause much damage: this mighty puffball weighs less than two dimes.

Sounds of the Rufous Hummingbird provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. “J” display and perched call recorded by G.A. Keller; wing whirring by A.A. Allen.

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The Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York’s Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds is the source of these Rufous Hummingbird sounds. “J” display and perched call recorded by G. A. Keller; wing whirring by A. A. Allen.

This audio story is brought to you by BirdNote, a partner of the National Audubon Society. BirdNote episodes air daily on public radio stations nationwide.

When naturalist A. R. Ammons may have had hummingbirds in mind when he wrote, “birds are flowers flying, and flowers are perched birds.” Their eye-catching iridescence sparkles in the sun.

The hummingbird is the only bird that can truly hover. By flapping its wings 20 to 80 times per second, it accomplishes this. It can fly straight up and down. Backwards and forwards. Or upside down. And up to 75 miles an hour. But don’t worry, it won’t run into you. This bird can stop in a spot no wider than your index finger from 25 miles per hour.

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Because their prey, pigeons, are not flight slackers either, peregrine falcons are exceptionally skilled acrobatics. Pigeons are tiny, powerful birds that can reach speeds of up to 100 kph in just two seconds and take off vertically. The mechanisms behind this vertical takeoff are demonstrated by BBC Earth in this fast-paced video. The first thing pigeons do is bend their legs and jump high enough for their first downstroke to fully extend while still clearing the ground. This provides them with an advantage in producing the energy required to climb.

Note the way the pigeon’s wings move, sweeping from directly behind the bird’s back to a full extension in front of it. With the bird moving vertically, this motion tells us that it’s thrust – not aerodynamic lift – from the wingstroke that’s powering this take-off. In that sense, the pigeon is something like a Harrier jet, using the thrust of air downward to take off vertically. ( and video credit: BBC Earth)

FAQ

Can birds fly vertically up?

Many birds can take off vertically. In the case of ducks, the type known as “dabbling” or “puddle” ducks are capable of vertical takeoff from the surface of the water. Some common species of puddle ducks are Mallard, Teal, Pintail, and Wigeon.

How do birds fly upwards?

At takeoff they incline their wing stroke plane, which orients lift forward to accelerate and drag upward to support nearly half of their bodyweight. Upon landing, lift is oriented backward to contribute a quarter of the braking force, which reduces the aerodynamic power required to land.

Can birds fly without moving forward?

On the other hand, some smaller birds can fly but in different ways. For example, small birds, like sparrows and kestrels, can hover for a limited time since their wings are so small. They can do this by flapping their wings to generate thrust without using energy to move through the air.

Do birds fly up and down?

Undulating. Finches, sparrows, and woodpeckers follow an up-and-down pattern, alternating between bursts of flapping and passive glides (wings out) or bounds (wings folded).