I am listening to NPR online.
A quiz show, and the question was asked:
"What is faster, a hummingbird or a fighter jet?"

The answer was "hummingbird."

I know that hummingbirds are fast, but can this be really true?
I never heard a boom from a hummer breaking the sound barrier, and I am glad. I would have to take my feeders down.

Can that answer really be the right one?

Sigrid

Sigrid

That is a very interesting thought and too interesting to let go of so I found this. Speaking relatively it is true. But it is mostly referring to the Annas hummingbird nosedive display during courtship. It appears during this dive it exerts a force of 9Gs , a force that would make some trained fighter pilots black out. Following is the article explaining this better than I can, interesting reading though. This romantice dive is also featured in the 50min. video at PBS.COM "magic in the air"

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/how-a-hummingbird-in-love-can-move-faster-than-a-fighter-jet-1701103.html



Steve
Martinsville, In
Heat zone 6
Sunset zone 35

Thanks for posting that article.
They are even faster than the space shuttle on re-entry!! I have seen Annas hummers do the dive bombing. I just never realized the speed.

Sigrid