Hover (behaviour)

Hovering is the ability exhibited by some winged animals to remain relatively stationary in midair. Usually this involves rapid downward thrusts of the wings to generate upward lift. Sometimes hovering is maintained by flapping or soaring into a headwind; this form of hovering is called "wind hovering", "windhovering", or "kiting".

Hummingbirds
Hummingbirds hover over flowers to obtain nectar, flapping their wings at up to 70 beats per second.

Bats
Like hummingbirds, fruit bats and nectar bats hover over flowers while feeding on fruits or nectar. Comparison between bats and hummingbirds has revealed that these animals exert similar amounts of energy relative to body weight during hovering: hummingbirds can twist their wings more easily and are more aerodynamic, but bats have bigger wings and larger strokes.

Kingfishers
Small Kingfishers such as Belted kingfisher may hover over water before diving in to catch fish. Larger species such as Ringed kingfisher are too heavy to hover for more than a few seconds.

Sphinx moths
Some sphinx moths (family Sphingidae) are known as hummingbird moths for their ability to hover over flowers while nectaring. Moths are relatively heavy insects and sometimes hang on to the flower with their forelegs as they hover.

Clearwing moths
Some clearwing moths (family Sesiidae) also hover while nectaring or even puddling. Females may also hover to inspect ovipositing sites.

Hoverflies
Hoverflies are flies that often hover over the plants they visit. This hovering behaviour is unlike that of hummingbirds since they do not feed in midair. Hovering in general may be a means of finding a food source; in addition, male hovering is often a territorial display seeking females, while female hovering serves to inspect ovipositing sites.

Bee flies
Bee flies are parasitoids that can dart about in the air with great agility. Males hover as a courtship display, while females hover over ovipositing sites - usually the entrance of a host insect nest - and shoot eggs into the nest using an ejecting movement of their abdomen. Species that have a long proboscis can hover over flowers while feeding, much as hummingbirds do, though these flies may touch the flower with their legs for balance while hovering.

Odonata
Odonata is an insect order that includes dragonflies and damselflies. They are strong aviators renowned for their acrobatic flights, including the ability to hover, usually for a short pause during their ceaseless territorial patrols.

Dragonflies
In addition to short hovers while cruising, female dragonflies may hover over the water before or during oviposition, males may also hover-guard their mate at this time.

Damselflies
Some male damselflies hover in front of females or over the oviposition site during courtship; sometimes females also hover in response. After mating, males may hover-guard their mate by either circling over her or by hovering while attached to her in tandem. Males hover-guarding in tandem do not need wings at all to remain suspended in the air; they are held aloft by clasping their mate with their abdomen, and can maintain their position even when the head and thorax are removed by predators.

Bees
Many bee species, such as bumblebees, hover momentarily as they approach flowers to feed. Males of some species, including carpenter bees and carder bees, also hover while patrolling their territories.

Wasps
Among the social wasps, Stenogastrinae are known as hover wasps due to their distinctive hovering flight. Males often hover to display banding patterns on their abdomen as a territorial display.

Among the solitary wasps, parasitoid species such as scoliid wasps exhibit hovering behaviour while hunting for prey to feed their larvae. Males of some parasitoids may hover briefly while they patrol their territories, seeking females and chasing away rivals.

Raptors
Many birds of prey such as kestrels, harriers, and members of the Buteo genus can "windhover" by facing the wind. Elanine kites also engage in "windhovering"; this behaviour is also called "kiting" due the common names of this genus.

Seabirds
Certain seabirds can windhover by soaring or flapping into the wind; often this behaviour takes advantage of thermals whipping off a coastal cliff.

Tropicbirds can even fly backwards against a strong headwind; Red-tailed tropicbird pairs use this ability to circle each other during courtship displays.

Smaller seabirds such as shearwaters and storm petrels feed by hovering low over the water surface, flapping with half-open wings and paddling with their feet in a technique called "pattering" or "sea-anchoring". The waves are accompanied by a slight horizontal wind that enables the birds to soar in place while using their feet to steady themselves.