Dennis Alan Budd, age 9, Vancouver, B.., for his question;
How can a hummingbird fly backwards?
The wide winged albatross can soar for days over the lonely ocean. The sharp winged swift can jerk and glide along at 55 miles an hour. The soft winged falcon can sometimes zoom fast enough to catch him. But the little hummingbird is the; greatest of ,all fliers. He is a speed flier and a distance flier. What's more, he alone in the bird world can hover on beating wings and fly backwards.
The hummer is the smallest kind of bird. The body of the bee hummingbird measures about an inch. Beak and tail bring his total measurement up to two inches. The giant hummingbird measures nine inches, including beak and tail. Most of 750 jeweled varieties of hummer are about four inches long. All are natives of the New 17orld. They range from Cape Horn to Alaska, though some areas see a hummer only as a summer visitor,
It is possible to see a hummingbird almost anywhere in the U.S. Only one, the ruby‑throated hummer., visits east of the Mississippi, but 18 different varieties visit the western states. Wherever you live, hummers should be encouraged in the garden. Not only do they eat up the bugs that feed on flowers, they also provide you with fascinating aerial acrobatics. Reed blossoms encourage them and a feeding station of sugary syrup will keep them coming.
The hummer gets his name from those whirring wings that beat too fast to be seen. We hear the whirr but see only a blur. The camera can give us a glimpse of them in motion. In Volume 6 of your gift encyclopedia there is such a picture, The flight of three hummers is frozen as they hover over a fooding station,
As you watch, the hummer darts around the garden like an arrow. In short spurts, he may fly faster than his relative, the swift. And his tiny wings are durable enough to take him 500 miles non‑stop across the Gulf of Mexico.
The hummer rovers around the lips of red flowers. He must stay in the air for the fragile flower may be unable to support him while he dips his beak down the flowery throat in search of bugs. At such times, his purring wings are belting 55 strokes to the second, When his business is finished, he goes into reverse and backs away before zooming off to another flower. The aerial acrobatics of hovering and reverse flying are done with special shoulder ,joints. The hummer can rotate his wings like propellers. The backward flight operates very much like a helicopter, However, the blades of the helicopter rotate parallel with the ground, The hummer rotates his wings in swift ovals which slope towards the ground