Why do humming birds fly backwards??

                           Can Humming birds fly backwards??

How Does the Hummingbird Fly Backwards?

The hummingbird has a unique muscle and wing structure that gives them a high level of flight control. You can think of a hummingbird as a miniature helicopter. Like a helicopter, the hummingbird can hover, fly right to left, left to right, diagonal, forwards, and even backwards. The hummingbird has the ability to rotate its wings in circles making a figure eight. Based on the configuration of the figure eight as shown below, the hummingbird can change directions at will. So not only does the hummingbird fly backwards, it does so with great speed and grace. In fact, they fly at a speed of up to 30 mph! If you ever observe one, you will without a doubt notice their quickness. You may also notice that their wings move so quickly that they are just a blur. This blurred effect is a result of their wings flapping between 15 t0 100 times per second to maintain the kind of agility to allow them to fly backwards.

Aerodynamics of Flight

Hummingbird flight has been studied intensively from an aerodynamic perspective using wind tunnels and high-speed video cameras.
Two studies of rufous or Anna's hummingbirds in a wind tunnel used particle image velocimetry techniques to investigate the lift generated on the bird's upstroke and downstroke. The birds produced 75% of their weight support during the downstroke and 25% during the upstroke, with the wings making a "figure 8" motion.

Many earlier studies had assumed that lift was generated equally during the two phases of the wingbeat cycle, as is the case of insects of a similar size. This finding shows that hummingbird hovering is similar to, but distinct from, that of hovering insects such as the hawk moth.  Further studies using electromyography in hovering rufous hummingbirds showed that muscle strain in the pectoralis major (principal downstroke muscle) was the lowest yet recorded in a flying bird, and the primary upstroke muscle (supracoracoideus) is proportionately larger than in other bird species. Hummingbird hovering has been estimated to be 20% more efficient than performed by a helicopter drone.
The giant hummingbird's wings beat as few as 12 beats per second and the wings of typical one beat up to 80 times per second.
A slow-motion video has shown how the hummingbirds deal with rain when they are flying. To remove the water from their heads, they shake their heads and bodies, similar to a dog shaking, to shed water. Further, when raindrops collectively may weigh as much as 38% of the bird's body weight, hummingbirds shift their bodies and tails horizontally, beat their wings faster, and reduce their wings' angle of motion when flying in heavy rain.

A trail of wake vortices generated by a hummingbird's flight discovered after training a bird to fly through a cloud of neutrally buoyant, helium-filled soap bubbles and recording airflows in the wake with stereo photography.

Birds that Fly Backwards: Interesting Facts

• The heart rate of a hummingbird can reach over 1,200 beats a minute.
• The fast-paced wing flapping creates a humming noise, which gives them their name.
• 1/3rd of a hummingbirds total weight comes from the muscles it uses to fly.
• Hummingbirds are constantly eating in order to fuel their flight agility; they have the highest metabolisms of all birds.
• In one day, a hummingbird will eat its body weight to survive.

Luckily for the hummingbird, they expend the same amount of energy moving forward as they do moving backwards!