Douglas Warrick - Hovering Hummingbirds

Hovering Hummingbirds

In 2005, Warrick led a research study into the hummingbird's ability to hover in flight. Working with trained rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus) that hovered over a feeding syringe filled with sugar solution, Warrick and his research team employed digital particle imaging velocimetry to capture the bird's wing movements on film, which enabled the discovery that the hummingbird's hovering is achieved primarily because of its wing's downstroke (which accounts for 75% of its lift) rather than its upstroke (which makes up the additional 25% of the lift). This was counter to the conventional wisdom which was that the lift was provided 50:50 by the up and down strokes as with hawk moths. Warrick's research was published in Nature, a leading scientific journal, and his research conclusions were widely reported in the international media such as Scientific American, the BBC, the Associated Press news wire, and the United States National Science Foundation.