Birds Live in a Different Time Dimension

Explanation: Small birds flit and flutter and fuss around as if wound up with a giant spring. But there's a relationship there among small body size, high metabolic rate, and the high rate at which they perceive and react to their environment.

For example, when hummingbirds hover, they are expending eight times their resting metabolic rate.

It is when we can slow down our view of them that we appreciate their grace and precision of movement. Check out the following brief videos I made of this week's stars. The videos were shot at 240 frames per second, which is 8 times higher than regular-motion video ... effectively slowing down the action by 8 times.

This is an Anna's Hummingbird taking off from its resting perch.
Notice how it starts flapping its wings and lifts it body upward
before it releases its grip on the branch ...
and also how it turns its head to the left before the body
itself turns, perhaps using the relatively large head and bill
as a steering mechanism.

Here is a White-breasted Nuthatch scaling the trunk of a large tree.
Have you ever watched nuthatches climb trees? In this slow-motion view,
you can now plainly see that the bird launches itself, upward hop by
upward hop, using its large claws almost like raptorial talons to
grasp the tiny pits and uneven surface of the bark.

Bonus video:

Watch this Black Phoebe drop a seed from its bill, crank
around to see where it dropped, then
dive head-first off its perch after it.

EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week