Bee Hummingbird: The bird is the size of your little finger and its eggs are the size of coffee beans! So small that it competes with insects for food (9 photos)

What do we know about Cuba? Revolution, rum, cigars, old cars. The salaries here are very low, but Cubans are still friendly and cheerful. They spend most of their time doing nothing and dancing, and also love their homeland very much. But Liberty Island has another reason to be proud. Far from this noisy and carefree life, in the forests of Cuba lives the smallest bird in the world - the bee hummingbird.





“I'm in the moment. And a hummingbird flew by, I didn’t even notice.” And it’s really easy not to notice this midget person. A tiny bird weighing 2 grams and 5.5 cm long can easily be confused with a large insect.



This is a universal drinker for all types of micro birds.

So that you don’t have to run for a ruler now, we’ve already done it for you: a bee hummingbird is approximately the size of your little finger. You will say that there are different little fingers, but the size of hummingbirds can also vary. For example, females are slightly larger than males and can be up to 6 cm in length. What can we say about the chicks: only the hummingbirds that are born are no larger than a couple of centimeters in size. They hatch from tiny eggs the size of a coffee bean.





How does a Lilliputian survive in the land of Gullivers? With difficulties. Bee hummingbirds are so small that they have to compete with insects rather than other birds for food. Birds feed on flower nectar. Moreover, no matter what flowers are not suitable for him - the picky person chose only 15 plants.



They also don’t mind drinking from a drinking bowl with sweetened water.

Like other hummingbirds, the "bee" does not land on a flower to enjoy the ragweed. The bird spends its entire meal on the fly. At this moment, she flaps her wings more than 130 times per second, and her heart beats at a speed of 300 to 500 beats per minute - that's six times faster than a human's.



Even this all sounds wildly tiresome. How does a tiny bird cope with such colossal loads? She eats. A lot and often. In one day, the baby will fly around 1000 plants, carrying pollen from flower to flower. The little “bee” makes a big contribution to the local ecosystem, pollinating on equal terms with its black and yellow namesakes.



Plants and birds are codependent on each other. Hummingbirds are unique pollinators for some plants. If the “feathered bee” disappears, the flower will also disappear, and there will be no one to pollinate it.

But unlike insects, the bee hummingbird, like a detective from noir films, always works alone. Birds intersect with each other solely for the noble purpose of procreation. From March to July, gentlemen, dressed in wedding attire, perform demonstration aerial dances with pirouettes in front of their ladies. During somersaults, their feathers make a characteristic sound. The one who makes this sound more melodic and pirouettes more spectacular is the one who enjoys the attention of women.



During the mating season, males develop bright red feathers on their faces.

The heavy share of raising offspring will fall on the female - the male, like a real drone, will not put any effort into this matter. The female hummingbird builds a nest from young twigs, grass, plant fibers and spider webs.



Spiders are probably not happy with the fact that hummingbirds brazenly steal their building materials, but expectant mothers simply eat those who are especially dissatisfied - the birds gladly dilute their flower-nectar diet with a protein snack. When the little “beebirds” are born, they are cared for by their mother for two weeks, and then they learn to fly. Very soon, a baby the size of a fingernail turns into a mature bird.



Yes, yes, these mole rats will become almost completely independent in 2 weeks.

The little bird is respected, loved and protected in its homeland. There are no more than 100,000 bee hummingbirds in the world. This species is very fragile and its survival depends on many factors. And despite the fact that Cuba is a very poor country, the government spares no expense in ensuring the integrity of wild places where the smallest bird in the world could live in comfort.