The Bird That Can Fly Backward

Hummingbirds can flap their wings up to 80 times a second. Their rapid wing movement allows them to hover in place and even fly backward.

That’s not just fast, it’s faster than your eye can follow. A hummingbird’s wings are a blur, moving so quickly that they can stay perfectly still in the air, like a tiny, feathery helicopter. And unlike most birds, they can even fly backward, thanks to their unique figure-eight wing motion.

But their sky-defying skills come with a serious energy bill.

Hummingbirds have the highest metabolism of any bird species. To power all that flapping, their hearts can beat over 1,200 times per minute. They eat constantly, sipping nectar from hundreds of flowers each day and gobbling up insects too. If a human had their metabolism, we’d need to eat around 300 cheeseburgers a day just to keep up.

When night falls, hummingbirds don’t just sleep, they switch into energy-saving mode. They enter a state called torpor, slowing their heart rate and body temperature so they don’t burn through their sugar stores. It’s like powering down into bird sleep mode.

And these little dynamos are built for travel. Some species migrate thousands of miles each year. The ruby-throated hummingbird can fly 500 miles straight over the Gulf of Mexico, without stopping once. That’s like flying from Chicago to Nashville without refueling.

All this from a bird no bigger than a ping-pong ball.

Kid-friendly question:
If you could fly like a hummingbird, where would you go—forward, backward, or straight up? Why?