[wisb] Hummingbird Flight Question

  • From: Dan Jackson <DanJackson@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "WisBirdN" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2011 17:43:18 -0500

In August, I was camped at Wyalusing SP at the Homestead campground.
For those unfamiliar with that campground, the campground is set up like
a wagon wheel.  In the 'hub', there are shower buildings, swings, etc.
Radiating from the road that circles that 'hub' area are spoke-like
roads that are very straight and relatively long (1/4 mile), which have
campsites on both sides.
 

While camping there, I noticed a lot of hummingbird activity and noticed
some flight characteristics that I had never seen before.  When birds
flew short distances or flew across the road, they flew, as I am used
to, with a constant, steady wing beat.  However, when they flew down the
road in a straight line for an extended distance (100+ yards), I saw a
couple that flew with an intermittent beat (with noticeable pauses
during which I could see the wings) and even undulated up and down
reminiscent of a Woodpecker or Red-winged Blackbird.  Has this type of
flight been documented before in hummingbirds?  If so, is that the type
of flight that they use in migration?  Does the more intermittent beat
allow longer sustained flight on fewer calories?

 

Of course, I might have just been watching a single unusual
individual......  I did see this at least a couple of times.  I really
don't think that I was delirious!!

 

Thanks,

 

Dan Jackson

Chaseburg, Vernon County, WI  (near La Crosse)

www.pbase.com/dejackson

 


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