Hummingbirds fly like bugs, according to reports in ScienceDaily 21 November 2014 and PhysOrg 23 November 2014 and Journal of The Royal Society Interface doi: 10.1098/rsif.2014.0541. Hummingbirds are known for their brilliant aerobatic manoeuvring, being able to hover and fly backwards. Two engineers and a biologist have conducted the most detailed analysis of hummingbird flight, and found their aerodynamics are more similar to insect flight than to that of other birds.
The research team made high speed videos of a hummingbird hovering in front of an artificial flower, and then used a supercomputer to analyse the wing movements and airflow around them. They found that small vortices form around the leading and trailing edge of the wings as the wings move forward during the downstroke. The vortices then join up to form one large vortex over the wing, creating a region of low pressure, which produces lift. This effect is enhanced by the bird pitching its wings, i.e. rotating the wings along their long axis.
However, it is the upstroke that is most distinctive about hummingbird flight compared with other birds. Hummingbirds can invert their wings, so they can form a leading edge vortex and provide lift during the upstroke. Most birds generate nearly all their lift during the downstroke, and then pull their wings close to their bodies to minimise negative lift during the upstroke of flapping flight. The scientists concluded that hummingbirds’ method of producing vortices, and the ability to generate lift on both the downstroke and upstroke, is more like insect flight, rather than the flight of larger birds.
Editorial Comment: Of course you can ask how any half-evolved hummingbirds would have managed to make the transformation from “bird-style” flying to “insect-style” flying without a supercomputer checking its vortices were in the right places. Furthermore, why would a bird even try to hover or fly backwards if it did not already have the means to do it successfully? To transform their flying method not only involves changes to the structure of the their wings, but also changes to their nervous system control, so they can make correct movements at just the right time in the cycle of downstrokes and upstrokes.
This research is further evidence that Genesis is a better explanation for the origin of hummingbirds, not only for their brilliant design, which needs a created supercomputer to analyse it, but also that they are a separate created kind, and never were any other kind of bird. Come on admit it: God is a genius at hummingbirds! (Ref. ornithology, aerodynamics, design)
Evidence News vol 14, No. 21
10 December 2014
Creation Research Australia