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Courtship Flight
With the female watching, the male hummer puts on a show that is hard to ignore. He flies up nearly 50 feet in the air, facing the sun, so his irridescent gorget glistens. Next, he dives at 40 miles per hour, then pulls up making a u-shaped pattern. Listen to the sound of the wings as they beat up to 200 times per second during this courtship dive.


(Recording by Lang Elliott)