Avoiding topsy-turvy: how Anna's hummingbirds (Calypte anna) fly through upward gusts

2019 ◽  
Vol 222 (3) ◽  
pp. jeb176263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc A. Badger ◽  
Hao Wang ◽  
Robert Dudley
Keyword(s):  
Calypte Anna

Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Clark ◽  
Stephen M. Russell
Keyword(s):  
Calypte Anna

scholarly journals Hovering performance of Anna's hummingbirds ( Calypte anna ) in ground effect

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (98) ◽  
pp. 20140505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica J. Kim ◽  
Marta Wolf ◽  
Victor Manuel Ortega-Jimenez ◽  
Stanley H. Cheng ◽  
Robert Dudley
Keyword(s):  
Wing Length ◽  
Ground Effect ◽  
The Body ◽  
Plane Angle ◽  
Metabolic Power ◽  
Wingbeat Frequency ◽  
Body Angle ◽  
Induced Flow ◽  
Induced Velocity ◽  
Calypte Anna

Aerodynamic performance and energetic savings for flight in ground effect are theoretically maximized during hovering, but have never been directly measured for flying animals. We evaluated flight kinematics, metabolic rates and induced flow velocities for Anna's hummingbirds hovering at heights (relative to wing length R = 5.5 cm) of 0.7 R , 0.9 R , 1.1 R , 1.7 R , 2.2 R and 8 R above a solid surface. Flight at heights less than or equal to 1.1 R resulted in significant reductions in the body angle, tail angle, anatomical stroke plane angle, wake-induced velocity, and mechanical and metabolic power expenditures when compared with flight at the control height of 8 R . By contrast, stroke plane angle relative to horizontal, wingbeat amplitude and wingbeat frequency were unexpectedly independent of height from ground. Qualitative smoke visualizations suggest that each wing generates a vortex ring during both down- and upstroke. These rings expand upon reaching the ground and present a complex turbulent interaction below the bird's body. Nonetheless, hovering near surfaces results in substantial energetic benefits for hummingbirds, and by inference for all volant taxa that either feed at flowers or otherwise fly close to plant or other surfaces.

Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)

1996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen M. Russell
Keyword(s):  
Calypte Anna

Song Learning in the Anna Hummingbird (Calypte anna)

Ethology ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis F. Baptista ◽  
Karl-L. Schuchmann
Keyword(s):  
Song Learning ◽  
Calypte Anna

scholarly journals The Anna's hummingbird chirps with its tail: a new mechanism of sonation in birds

2008 ◽  
Vol 275 (1637) ◽  
pp. 955-962 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher James Clark ◽  
Teresa J Feo
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Wild Birds ◽  
High Speed Video ◽  
Calypte Anna

A diverse array of birds apparently make mechanical sounds (called sonations) with their feathers. Few studies have established that these sounds are non-vocal, and the mechanics of how these sounds are produced remains poorly studied. The loud, high-frequency chirp emitted by a male Anna's hummingbird ( Calypte anna ) during his display dive is a debated example. Production of the sound was originally attributed to the tail, but a more recent study argued that the sound is vocal. Here, we use high-speed video of diving birds, experimental manipulations on wild birds and laboratory experiments on individual feathers to show that the dive sound is made by tail feathers. High-speed video shows that fluttering of the trailing vane of the outermost tail feathers produces the sound. The mechanism is not a whistle, and we propose a flag model to explain the feather's fluttering and accompanying sound. The flag hypothesis predicts that subtle changes in feather shape will tune the frequency of sound produced by feathers. Many kinds of birds are reported to create aerodynamic sounds with their wings or tail, and this model may explain a wide diversity of non-vocal sounds produced by birds.

Food Passage and Intestinal Nutrient Absorption in Hummingbirds

The Auk ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 103 (3) ◽  
pp. 453-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
William H. Karasov ◽  
Duong Phan ◽  
Jared M. Diamond ◽  
F. Lynn Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
Binding Constants ◽  
Glucose Absorption ◽  
Food Passage ◽  
Sugar Water ◽  
Sugar Absorption ◽  
Transit Times ◽  
The Face ◽  
High Fluid ◽  
Intestinal Glucose Absorption ◽  
Calypte Anna

Abstract We studied adaptations of digestive physiology that permit Rufous (Selasphorus rufus) and Anna's hummingbirds (Calypte anna) to absorb sugar-water meals rapidly and efficiently. As measured with soluble markers, transit times (<15 min) and mean retention times (ca. 48 min) of meals in the hummingbird digestive tract are brief compared with values for most other vertebrates. Glucose is extracted with an efficiency of 97%. We describe a new method, employing double isotope dilution, for measuring crop-emptying kinetics. Based on this method, the crop empties half of a meal in ca. 4 min and all of the meal in 15-20 min. Rufous and Anna's hummingbirds may be energy maximizers limited by crop emptying times, rather than foraging-time minimizers. This would explain why hummingbirds spend a majority of each hour sitting rather than feeding. The intestine's passive permeability to glucose is the lowest of any vertebrate studied to date. This may be an adaptation to prevent solute loss from the blood in the face of high fluid transit rates through the intestine. Active transport accounts for essentially all intestinal glucose absorption. Compared with intestines of other vertebrates, the glucose absorption sites of hummingbird intestines have normal binding constants but are present at extremely high densities. Comparisons of hummingbirds, chickens, and shrikes suggest that intestinal absorption rates for amino acids are independent of trophic habits in birds as in other vertebrate classes, but that sugar absorption decreases in the sequence herbivore > omnivore > carnivore.

Maternal Diet Selectivity in Calypte anna

1980 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 175 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Lynn Carpenter ◽  
Jeffrey L. Castronova
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Diet ◽  
Calypte Anna
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