Hummingbirds (relatively) Faster than Fighter Jet

The dramatic "courtship dive" of a small hummingbird has been found to be the quickest aerial maneuver in the natural world for an animal compared to its size. It even outpaces the movements of a jet fighter and the Space Shuttle on re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

Anna's hummingbird lives in the American south-west and the courtship display of the male is renowned for its death-defying dive that ends abruptly with a dramatic upturn with outstretched wings and tail feathers that stop the bird from crashing into the ground.

Scientists calculated that the 50mph speed of the hummingbird at the fastest point in its descent is equivalent to it moving 383 times its body length each second. The G-force as it turns out of its dive is nearly nine times the force of gravity – the same as the maximum G-forces experienced by fighter pilots. But scientists estimate that the G-forces created as the bird comes out of its dive would make many trained fighter pilots black out as a result of the rush of blood away from the brain.

Aerial diving is seen in the courtship displays of many other birds, such as nighthawks and snipes, and it is a common feature of many bird species that attack their prey from the air – such as kingfishers, seabirds and falcons – but none come close to matching the speed and acceleration of the hummingbird, he said.

Anna's hummingbird dives at nearly twice the speed relative to its body size than the peregrine falcon, which flies at a maximum velocity of about 200 body lengths per second. The hummingbird is also faster than the swallow, which dives from high-altitude migratory flights at a speed of about 350 body lengths per second.

Original article here.