Hummingbirds are not
considered rare in the United States, but whenever I see one I get very
excited! They are just the type of
bird that is so amazing, strange, and tiny, you just have to stop whatever you
were doing, freeze and watch the beautiful creature until it buzzes away.
The Bee Hummingbird,
native to the dense forests and woodlands of Cuba, is the smallest bird in the
world. It is also the world’s
smallest warm-blooded vertebrate.
They are only two inches long and weigh 1.6 to 1.9 grams, lighter than a
penny! All hummingbirds can beat
their wings so fast that to the human eye it is just a blur. The bee hummingbird can flap its wings
an estimated 80 times per second when flying and 200 times per second when
mating.
Males are slightly smaller
than females and can be easily mistaken for a bee as it buzzes quickly by. During breeding season, males have a
fiery red head and throat with elongated lateral feathers growing from their
neck. The remainder of his upper
body is iridescent blue and the underside is gray white. Females have iridescent green
upperparts and whitish undersides.
Bee Hummingbird (photo: Wikipedia)
Bee hummingbirds have the
highest body temperature of all birds at 104°F. At night, in order to save energy, their temperature drops
to about 66°F. They mainly consume
nectar and insects. They can eat
enough small insects to equal half their total body mass and drink eight times
their total body mass in water each day.
Females alone build a tiny
cup-shaped nest about one inch in diameter, 3 to 5 meters above the
ground. She uses bits of lichen,
cobwebs, bark and soft plant fibers.
She usually lays two pea-sized eggs, which she solely incubates. Chicks hatch after around three weeks
and they have a full set of feathers within two weeks.
Bee Hummingbirds are
considered “near threatened” by the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species. Populations have clearly declined,
caused by loss of habitat due to crop and livestock farming and timber
harvesting.
The next time you visit
the World Bird Sanctuary take a short break or have your lunch on one of the
benches near one of our bird feeder areas. If you watch closely you are likely to see a Ruby Throated
Hummingbird—the only hummingbird native to the St. Louis, Missouri area.
Submitted by Sara Oliver,
World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist
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