3 ms·

Anyone else here ever seen a bird hover without wind blowing in the other direction?

• dmoy 3y ago
  I assume we're not talking about hummingbirds? Other than that no I don't think I've seen a bird truly hover not upwind (i.e. static in 3 dimensions, not an artifact of parallax from me also moving
  • justinl33 3y ago
    Hummingbirds are actually a great counterexample, nice. They might have to make it nuclear powered to attain 70 wing beats a second in a vessel light/small enough to sustain flight though.
  • deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
• nick222226 3y ago
  Actually yeah, plenty of larger birds of prey hover high off the ground to look for moving targets. I have seen it myself.
  • justinl33 3y ago
    But they’re probably high off the ground in a healthy flow of wind current right, as Newton’s third law would dictate. I could be wrong - mainly just nitpicking the way the demo video relentlessly mentions that the bird can hover
    • wood_spirit 3y ago
      Kestrels can hover in a perfect calm https://amp.theguardian.com/news/2011/sep/09/weatherwatch-kestrel-windhover https://amp.theguardian.com/news/2011/sep/09/weatherwatch-ke...