Hovering :



             Hovering is actually a specific case of flapping.

        What makes hovering unique, is that, there is no forward motion of the animal through air. Now, that’s important, because it is the forward motion that generates the circulation of air around the wing - which generates lift!

        Hence, the entire purpose of the motion of the wing during hovering is to balance the body weight. This puts an upper limit to the mass of the flyer - and hence, hovering is more common among insects than birds. However, in the bird community, the hummingbird is famous for its efficiency in hovering.

  During hovering, the wing tip traces out an almost horizontal figure 8.





The hummingbird (Adapted from http://pdphoto.org/)