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Bee Hummingbird / Zunzuncito

Mellisuga helenae

Description:

This is an endemic species from Cuba and it is consider the smalest bird in the world, the individual in the picture is a female, It weight 1.6–2 g (0.056–0.071 oz) and a length of 5–6 cm (2.0–2.4 in)

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7 Comments

Jonathan Sequeira
Jonathan Sequeira 11 years ago

This bird has also the smallest number of feathers: about 1,000 feathers (in other bird species, there are up to 25,000 feathers).

KarenL
KarenL 11 years ago

Fun fact! The bee hummingbird measures less than 2.5 inches long and weighs under 0.1 ounce! Also known as the Helenas hummingbird, it is so tiny it often gets caught in spiders' webs.

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Jonathan Sequeira
Jonathan Sequeira 11 years ago

Nice... a Coquette, next trip to Cuba I will search for the male which is very colorful

Debbie Stewart
Debbie Stewart 11 years ago

Beautiful little hummingbird, they are fascinating to watch when they are so tiny...I managed to capture a female tufted coquette in Trinidad that was just half a cm bigger than this beauty and you really can mistake them for large bees! http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/149...

Jonathan Sequeira
Jonathan Sequeira 11 years ago

Thanks for the comments, I fount it in my 4 th trip to Cuba....
THE SMALEST BIRD IN THE WORLD

Maria dB
Maria dB 11 years ago

Very nice find, Jonathan!

alicelongmartin
alicelongmartin 11 years ago

Wow! Cool!

Jonathan Sequeira
Spotted by
Jonathan Sequeira

Matanzas, Cuba

Spotted on Feb 2, 2013
Submitted on Feb 17, 2013

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