News Animals

Trove of hummingbird flight data reveals secrets of nimble flying

Muscle, wing form help bigger species rival smaller ones in agility

hummingbird

WHAT TO WATCH  The fast turns of hummingbirds have inspired a massive motion-tracking study of the birds’ flight maneuvers.

Lip Kee/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

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Lab-grade flight tracking has gone wild, creating a broad new way of studying some of the flashiest of natural acrobats, wild hummingbirds.