Editing Hummingbird (section)

=== Wingbeats and flight stability ===
[[File:Hummingbird feeding closeup 2000fps.webm|thumb|Slow-motion video of hummingbirds feeding]]

The highest recorded wingbeat rate for hummingbirds during hovering is 99.1 per second, as measured for male woodstars (''Chaetocercus sp.'').<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Wilcox |first1=Sean |last2=Clark |first2=Christopher |year=2022 |title=Sexual selection for flight performance in hummingbirds |url=https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/33/6/1093/6686581 |journal=Behavioral Ecology |volume=33 |issue=6 |pages=1093–1106|doi=10.1093/beheco/arac075 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Males in the genus ''[[Chaetocercus]]'' have been recorded above 100 beats per second during courtship displays.<ref name=":0" /> The number of beats per second increases above "normal" hovering while flying during courtship displays (up to 90 per second for the calliope hummingbird, ''Selasphorus calliope''); a wingbeat rate 40% higher than its typical hovering rate.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Clark |first=C.J. |year=2011 |title=Wing, tail, and vocal contributions to the complex acoustic signals of courting Calliope hummingbirds |journal=Current Zool. |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=187–196 |doi=10.1093/czoolo/57.2.187 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

During turbulent airflow conditions created experimentally in a [[wind tunnel]], hummingbirds exhibit stable head positions and orientation when they [[Bird flight#Hovering|hover]] at a feeder.<ref name="ravi">{{Cite journal |last1=Ravi |first1=Sridhar |last2=Crall |first2=James D. |last3=McNeilly |first3=Lucas |last4=Gagliardi |first4=Susan F. |last5=Biewener |first5=Andrew A. |last6=Combes |first6=Stacey A.|year=2015 |title=Hummingbird flight stability and control in freestream turbulent winds |journal=J Exp Biol |volume=218 |issue=Pt 9 |pages=1444–452 |doi=10.1242/jeb.114553 |pmid=25767146 |doi-access=free}}</ref> When wind gusts from the side, hummingbirds compensate by increasing wing-stroke [[amplitude]] and stroke plane angle and by varying these parameters asymmetrically between the wings and from one stroke to the next.<ref name=ravi/> They also vary the orientation and enlarge the collective [[surface area]] of their tail feathers into the shape of a [[hand fan|fan]].<ref name=ravi/> While hovering, the [[visual system]] of a hummingbird is able to separate apparent motion caused by the movement of the hummingbird itself from motions caused by external sources, such as an approaching predator.<ref name="goller"/> In natural settings full of highly complex background motion, hummingbirds are able to precisely hover in place by rapid coordination of vision with body position.<ref name="goller"/>