Here you can kind of see how a hummingbird’s wings don’t move in just an up-and-down plane but more of a figure 8. This was at 1/1250 shutter and there’s still blur. But surprisingly simple to photograph because of how stable they are at full speed hovering.
@Jgbird I was watching one that was hovering by me, it looked like it had two sets of wings
@sunumbral if we discovered some secret extra set of wings, I wouldn’t even be that surprised
@Jgbird Just moving something back and forth is incredibly stressful on it and not very efficient. Insect wings move in circles too. Which is why Villneuve's take on the ornithopters in Dune was so stupid.
@Jgbird Lovely...pollen on the bill, great detail around the eye.

@Jgbird

Wonderful! I watch them almost every night on my feeders. They are so playful and so fast they seem to be visitors from another space-time continuum!