Hummingbird Helicopter! I was having some fun filming Ruby Throated Hummingbirds in slow motion from above - and it turns out a Hummingbird sounds much like a helicopter when filmed in slow motion. You can hear it before you see it - Crank up the volume! Ruby Throated Hummingbird at 1/8 normal speed - 240 FPS and the wings are still a blur, but rather than a circular blur like a helicopter you can see the range of their horizontal motion is much less as they flap in sort of a figure 8 pattern with more of a vertical component than a helicopter. It turns out studies earlier this year by Stanford engineers have found that hummingbirds actually have a more efficient a design than the best helicopter. To hear a hummingbird from above in normal speed check out:
Check out these stories on the quantitative analysis of hummingbird wings that show they generate lift more efficiently than the best micro-helicopter blades. - and Hummingbirds vs. Drone Helicopters: Who Wins?
New HD videos every week. Subscribe at:
