Costa's, Magnificent, and Plain-capped Starthroat are the species I've seen gliding most often. Which species did you observe?

I've seen the Ruby-Throated glide quite often.

jp

Sometimes, yes.

At first I didn't know what you meant by 'glide', but I think I've got it now. Kinda like they're floating in the air? I've seen our ruby's do that alot. I'd never really thought about it before.

I've seen them glide, but they just do it really fast!

Ginni

I've seen Rufous glide as they approach a feeder. The hummingbird liked to sit on a wire, grab a few insects, then fly over to the feeder for liquid refreshment. I positioned myself about 8 feet from the feeder so I looked past the feeder at the hummingbird perched on the wire, about 50-70 feet away. Typically, it would fly a few feet from the perch, grab an insect and return to its perch. Eventually, it would fly almost straight to the feeder, which gave me a head-on view. From this angle, I could tell when it glided because its wings suddenly became visible instead of just a blur. The first time I saw it I didn't believe my eyes, thinking it must have been an optical illusion. I kept watching and saw the maneuver repeated, and eventually I observed frequent glides by several different hummingbirds.

I've seen them glide as they are decending from a high point in a tree swooping down to a window mounted feeder. Watching from the other side of the glass it was quite an entertaining front view of the hummingbird. They briefly look like little ducks coming in to land. Only lasts a couple of seconds though.

This thread has managed to glide for 10, count 'em 10 years!

Wow 14 years... I googled this question after catching one of our hummingbirds gliding on camera haha. I had no idea they did this!

https://youtu.be/gFbtaw9FD_U