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They are admired for their incredible ability to hover in mid-air and to beat their wings at up to 200 times a second.

Now, a new study has uncovered more if the hummingbird's secrets.

Researchers have discovered the migration patterns of hummingbirds and say they can live for just over a decade – up to five times as long as previously thought. 

Researchers have discovered the migration patterns of hummingbirds and say they can live for just over a decade – up to five times as long as previously thought. Here, a female Black-chinned hummingbird is captured and tagged so that researchers will be able to learn more about here migration habits

For the last decade, experts have been placing tiny numbered bands on the legs of birds, enabling researchers to identify a creature - and its vital statistics - when it is recaptured.

The exercise has so far revealed astonishing migrations, with one Rufous hummingbird tagged in Florida showing up six months later more than 3,500 miles (5,630km) away in southeast Alaska.

Experts are not sure if the bird made the long trip in one go or if it stopped off along the way.  

Some birds have even been discovered wintering in areas where temperatures drop below 18°C (0°F).

'We're learning a lot about hummingbirds through banding we never would have learned otherwise,' said Bruce Peterjohn, chief of the bird banding laboratory for the US Geological Survey's Patuxent Wildlife Research Centre in Laurel, Maryland. 

Since the 1990s, experts have been placing tiny numbered bands on the legs of birds to monitor them.The exercise has revealed astonishing migrations, with one Rufous hummingbird tagged in Florida showing up six months later more than 3,500 miles (5,630km) away in southeast Alaska. A Calliope hummingbird is pictured

Hummingbirds are protected in the US under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and permits are need to capture them.

They live in the Americas as far north as Alaska and as far south as Chile and are known to migrate to the southern states, Mexico and Panama for winter, with some birds based in warmer locations staying put instead.

Mr Peterjohn said that there are 225 hummingbird banders in the US and around half of them are considered experts – a huge increase from around a dozen in the mid-1990s.

Fred Bassett, 68, was among the early banders and caught 1,900 of the tiny creatures in Idaho last summer.

He said: 'They know exactly what's going on. They know humans are supposed to put up the feeders. They consider us to be their personal servants.'

Mr Bassett flew fighter jets before retiring from the US Air Force in 1988 and finds hummingbird flight amazing.

'I envy them greatly for being able to fly like that - how they can manoeuvre, from 0 to 50mph (0 to 80 kph) about 10 feet ( three metres),' he said.

Hummingbird beat at about 70 times per second in normal fight and about 200 times per second during a high speed dive. 

The metal bands – which the banders prepare themselves – have become more advanced, as have traps and techniques used to collect the information gathered. 

Some birds have even been discovered wintering in areas where temperatures drop below 18°C (0°F). Here, a make Calliope hummingbird (pictured left) and a male Black-chinned hummingbird (right) are studied

Hummingbird hovering around an orange flower

Jessica Pollock, a research biologist with the Intermountain Bird Observatory at Boise State University in Idaho said: 'You need to have a standardised protocol. You just can't be willy-nilly.'

Her group last year caught a record 635 hummingbirds, including 105 recaptures, during nine capture days between May and August on private property located about a mile (1.6km) south of Idaho City.

Key to capturing hummingbirds, she said, is to go where there is an established feeding site put up by humans that has had time to attract generations of hummingbirds.

'They'll bring their kids, and their baby hummingbirds will bring theirs the next year,' Dr Pollock said. 'So you just get more and more every year.'

Carl Rudeen, another hummingbird bander in Idaho, captured a record 768 hummingbirds in the state. He's discovered that a new species of hummingbird - the Anna's hummingbird - is starting to move into Idaho.

'This year we caught two juveniles in August, the first documentation of juveniles in Idaho.'

His theory is that the species, which thrives in urban environments with human helpers, is moving from coastal areas to Idaho expecting to find hummingbird feeders at the ready.

While the information has shed light on hummingbird habits, it has also generated new questions.

Mr Peterjohn said that it's unclear whether hummingbirds on their long migrations fly hundreds of miles at a time and make long layovers to refuel, or if they are making relatively short 30-mile (48km) flights.

The longevity of hummingbirds is also unknown, with Mr Peterjohn predicting birds in their teens will likely start showing as the banding program continues.

Banders in Idaho are at a loss to explain why record numbers of hummingbirds were captured last summer.

Dr Pollock believes that reasons may include a good breeding year to better migrating conditions, but researchers can only speculate.

'Our knowledge has increased and made us realise how little we know and how much there still is to learn about hummingbirds,' Mr Peterjohn said.