Original film · Animal flight
How Hummingbirds Hover
Watch how a hummingbird-like wing changes orientation so it can contribute upward force on both halves of its stroke.
Transcript
How does a hummingbird stay in the air while its wings come back up? Watch the wing's path, then look at its orientation. In this teaching model, the path stays the same as you change the twist. Reduce the twist and compare the upward force signal. Restore it and the wing contributes on both halves of the stroke. Scrub through the turn to see how the wing changes orientation. The arrows are a simplified proxy, not measured lift or a full airflow simulation. Explore how motion and orientation work together at Explainer Tools dot com.