Uploaded June 2018 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
You've seen them in slow motion. Now it's time to see just how fast they move in real life! This short collection of clips shows some of the best 2018 action captured at real-life speed, illustrating just how lightning fast these little birds are. Some recent research has suggested that in terms of relative speed (speed vs. size of object) these birds are the fastest animals on planet Earth. When it comes to absolute speed, the Cheetah is still the fastest land animal, reaching short burst speeds of up 70 mph. The Peregrine Falcon rules sky with dive speeds reaching 242 mph, and the Sailfish cuts through the ocean at around 65 mph. However, these are all relatively large animals. To determine an animal's speed relative to its size, researchers sometimes divide the measured speed of the creature by its body length, the result being expressed as "Body Lengths per Second" (BL/S).
Hummingbirds typically hit 25-35mph in straght-line flight, but can reach speeds up to 58 mph in a dive, which can usually be seen (and more often HEARD) in spring as the males perform high-speed courship dives to impress their prospective perched mates. This translates to about 340 BL/S for a 3-inch-long bird @ 58 mph, and easily beats the Cheetah (26 BL/S), the Peregrine (304 BL/S), a fighter jet with afterburners (150 BL/S) and the Space Shuttle re-entry at 207 BL/S. Even in straight level flight at 30 mph the birds travel at a blistering 176 BL/S. They can easily tolerate 10g (10x the force of gravity) and their ultra-low mass allows for amazing acceleration, deceleration, direction change. Their high speed maneuverability is accomplished with simple thrust-vectering from highly specialized wings and wing muscles, able to flap in a wide degree of angles relative to their bodies.
All this speed is worthless if the senses and brain can't keep up with it, which implies that these birds may experience the world at a much faster speed than we do. Ironically, that means that most things around them are probably moving in slow motion from their point of view!
Filmed in Santa Clarita, California with a GoPro Hero 5 Black at 120 and 240 fps, realtime audio tracks included.
Many of these scenes can be seen in slow motion below..
youtu.be/Pa2mB4BsvX4
Real Angry Birds 2: Hummingbird Slow Motion V23961
youtu.be/rzZaoasZ0uk
Real Angry Birds 3: 67 Action Scenes in Slow Motion! V23969
youtu.be/EzDH00PTvG0
Funny Feet 2 - Slow Motion Hummingbird Antics V23975
youtu.be/yc2brg0Ila4
Long Hummingbird battle V23430u
youtu.be/SrT9gximvyU
Slow Motion Hummingbirds 2018 0 V23970
youtu.be/-ejxqQliwYk
Slow Motion Hummingbirds 2018 1 (with voices) V23971
youtu.be/VnWmaKdU_zA
Slow Motion Hummingbirds 2018 2 240fps V23972
youtu.be/DiaJ5IX2U8Q
Slow Motion Hummingbirds 2018 3 240fps V23973
youtu.be/wQwNUBm5E0E
Slow Motion Hummingbirds 2018 4 120fps (-10x, with Voices)V23974
youtu.be/i4Jcmf4q_kE
Hummingbird fights demo reel 1 V23962
youtu.be/27OMAqRMD6k
Hummingbird fights demo reel 2 V23963
youtu.be/DViUxjgOLWc
Hummingbird fights demo reel 3 V23964
youtu.be/GvspWh_HT6E
Hummingbird fights demo reel 4 V23965
youtu.be/dGThYhxHa8o
Hummingbird fights demo reel 5 V23966
youtu.be/BenIN0ja4vg
Hummingbird fights demo reel 6 V23967
youtu.be/5V55_X0JObw
Hummingbird fights demo reel 7 V23968
Contains JCMDI catalog#: V23505,V23671,V23676,V23680,V23683,V23686,V23688,V23691,V23695,V23698,V23700,V23765,V23766,V23769,V23771,V23773,V23775,V23778,V23780,V23787,V23804,V23833,V23837,
Note: The audio and video material contained herein is copyright 2018 JCM Digital Imaging and can be licensed for commercial/monetized use on our website at JCMDI.COM. You may also download this footage directly from YouTube and use it free of charge in your own non-profit/non-commercial YouTube videos, school projects, etc. The full free usage policy and YouTube copyright notice/ad info can be found here (please read before using JCMDI material): jcmdi.com/stockfootage/faq.html#freeusage jcmdi.com/stockfootage/faq.html#partner
You've seen them in slow motion. Now it's time to see just how fast they move in real life! This short collection of clips shows some of the best 2018 action captured at real-life speed, illustrating just how lightning fast these little birds are. Some recent research has suggested that in terms of relative speed (speed vs. size of object) these birds are the fastest animals on planet Earth. When it comes to absolute speed, the Cheetah is still the fastest land animal, reaching short burst speeds of up 70 mph. The Peregrine Falcon rules sky with dive speeds reaching 242 mph, and the Sailfish cuts through the ocean at around 65 mph. However, these are all relatively large animals. To determine an animal's speed relative to its size, researchers sometimes divide the measured speed of the creature by its body length, the result being expressed as "Body Lengths per Second" (BL/S).
Hummingbirds typically hit 25-35mph in straght-line flight, but can reach speeds up to 58 mph in a dive, which can usually be seen (and more often HEARD) in spring as the males perform high-speed courship dives to impress their prospective perched mates. This translates to about 340 BL/S for a 3-inch-long bird @ 58 mph, and easily beats the Cheetah (26 BL/S), the Peregrine (304 BL/S), a fighter jet with afterburners (150 BL/S) and the Space Shuttle re-entry at 207 BL/S. Even in straight level flight at 30 mph the birds travel at a blistering 176 BL/S. They can easily tolerate 10g (10x the force of gravity) and their ultra-low mass allows for amazing acceleration, deceleration, direction change. Their high speed maneuverability is accomplished with simple thrust-vectering from highly specialized wings and wing muscles, able to flap in a wide degree of angles relative to their bodies.
All this speed is worthless if the senses and brain can't keep up with it, which implies that these birds may experience the world at a much faster speed than we do. Ironically, that means that most things around them are probably moving in slow motion from their point of view!
Filmed in Santa Clarita, California with a GoPro Hero 5 Black at 120 and 240 fps, realtime audio tracks included.
Many of these scenes can be seen in slow motion below..
youtu.be/Pa2mB4BsvX4
Real Angry Birds 2: Hummingbird Slow Motion V23961
youtu.be/rzZaoasZ0uk
Real Angry Birds 3: 67 Action Scenes in Slow Motion! V23969
youtu.be/EzDH00PTvG0
Funny Feet 2 - Slow Motion Hummingbird Antics V23975
youtu.be/yc2brg0Ila4
Long Hummingbird battle V23430u
youtu.be/SrT9gximvyU
Slow Motion Hummingbirds 2018 0 V23970
youtu.be/-ejxqQliwYk
Slow Motion Hummingbirds 2018 1 (with voices) V23971
youtu.be/VnWmaKdU_zA
Slow Motion Hummingbirds 2018 2 240fps V23972
youtu.be/DiaJ5IX2U8Q
Slow Motion Hummingbirds 2018 3 240fps V23973
youtu.be/wQwNUBm5E0E
Slow Motion Hummingbirds 2018 4 120fps (-10x, with Voices)V23974
youtu.be/i4Jcmf4q_kE
Hummingbird fights demo reel 1 V23962
youtu.be/27OMAqRMD6k
Hummingbird fights demo reel 2 V23963
youtu.be/DViUxjgOLWc
Hummingbird fights demo reel 3 V23964
youtu.be/GvspWh_HT6E
Hummingbird fights demo reel 4 V23965
youtu.be/dGThYhxHa8o
Hummingbird fights demo reel 5 V23966
youtu.be/BenIN0ja4vg
Hummingbird fights demo reel 6 V23967
youtu.be/5V55_X0JObw
Hummingbird fights demo reel 7 V23968
Contains JCMDI catalog#: V23505,V23671,V23676,V23680,V23683,V23686,V23688,V23691,V23695,V23698,V23700,V23765,V23766,V23769,V23771,V23773,V23775,V23778,V23780,V23787,V23804,V23833,V23837,
Note: The audio and video material contained herein is copyright 2018 JCM Digital Imaging and can be licensed for commercial/monetized use on our website at JCMDI.COM. You may also download this footage directly from YouTube and use it free of charge in your own non-profit/non-commercial YouTube videos, school projects, etc. The full free usage policy and YouTube copyright notice/ad info can be found here (please read before using JCMDI material): jcmdi.com/stockfootage/faq.html#freeusage jcmdi.com/stockfootage/faq.html#partner
