New measurement technique unravels what gives hummingbird wings their characteristic sound – Phys.org

The hummingbird is named after the humming sound it makes when it hovers in front of flowers to feed. But only now has it become clear how the wing generates the hummingbird’s namesake sound when it is beating rapidly at 40 beats per second. Researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology, Sorama, a TU/e spin-off company, and Stanford University meticulously observed hummingbirds using 12 high-speed cameras, six pressure plates and 2176 microphones. They discovered that the soft, complex feathered…

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