Swifts (the ancestors of hummingbirds) are pretty cool birds of course -- e.g. european species such as common and alpine are extremely fast and elegant flyers

Swifts (the ancestors of hummingbirds) are pretty cool birds of course -- e.g. european species such as common and alpine are extremely fast and elegant flyers -- in particular though I always find it interesting to see the way some swift species will flutter briefly by flowers in treetops. It definitely makes you wonder whether that behavior was present in the swift-hummingbird ancestor (I haven't looked into whether anyone has mapped that behavior onto a swift phylogeny -- let me know if you know!)