General Information

The Bee Hummingbird is the smallest of all hummingbirds, and the male is even smaller than the female of the species.

Physical Description

Its mass is approximately 1.8 grams, which is lighter than a penny, and it is about 2 inches long. The male has a fiery red throat, an iridescent gorget with elongated lateral plumes, bluish upperparts, and the rest of the underparts are mostly a greyish white. The female has bluish green upperparts, whitish grey underparts and white tips on the outer tail feathers. It is more likely to be mistaken for a bee than a bird because of its tiny size. The males only have a reddish head, chin, and throat when breeding; they look like the females when they aren't doing so, except their wings have blue spots.

Diet

The bee hummingbird's diet consists mainly of nectar and insects. Bee hummingbirds will eat half of their total body mass and drink 8 times their total body mass in water each day because they have such a fast metabolism. At any given time during the day, the bee hummingbird is just hours away from starving to death. At night, their metabolism slows allowing them to have a little rest.

Habitat

The Bee Hummingbird can be found in Cuba and the Isle of Youth. It prefers areas with woodland, shrubbery, and gardens.

Reproduction

Most male hummingbirds take no part in nesting. Most females of the species will make a neatly woven cup in a tree branch where two white eggs are laid. Incubation duties of the eggs are taken care of by the female, which despite being the smallest of all bird eggs, are quite large relative to the hummingbird's adult size. Incubation typically lasts 14 to 19 days.