What Is the Smallest Bird in the World? Bee Hummingbird

How small is the bee hummingbird?

The bee hummingbird is so tiny that a third of its length is bill and tail. Males average about 5.5 cm (2.2 in) and 1.95 g (0.07 oz); females average about 6.1 cm (2.4 in) and 2.6 g (0.09 oz). For comparison, a US penny weighs 2.5 g and a standard paper clip about 1 g.

Its nest is a cup about 2.5 cm (1 in) across, built from cobwebs, bark and lichen and lined with soft plant fibers. The female lays one or two white eggs, each about the size of a coffee bean, and raises the chicks alone.

Despite its size, it is a fast, agile flier. It feeds mainly on flower nectar plus small insects and spiders, and may visit around 1,500 flowers in a day. Because it pollinates many of them, it plays a real role in Cuba’s ecosystems.

Where does the bee hummingbird live?

The bee hummingbird is found only in Cuba, including the Isla de la Juventud. It is patchily distributed and most often seen in the Zapata Swamp, in western hills of Pinar del Río and in forested parts of eastern Cuba, in places with thick growth, vines and flowering plants.

The IUCN lists it as Near Threatened. Clearing of native forest for agriculture and grazing has fragmented its habitat. Its closest relative, the vervain hummingbird of Jamaica and Hispaniola, is about 6 cm (2.4 in) long and is often considered the world’s second-smallest bird.

How does it compare with other small birds?

Hummingbirds hold most of the records for tiny birds, but some songbirds come close. Here is how the bee hummingbird compares with some well-known small birds of North America and Europe.

The ruby-throated hummingbird, the only hummingbird that nests in eastern North America, weighs about one and a half times as much as a bee hummingbird. In the West, the calliope hummingbird is the smallest bird that breeds in the United States and Canada, and it is also thought to be the smallest long-distance migrant bird in the world.

What is the smallest bird in Europe?

Europe has no hummingbirds, which live only in the Americas. Its smallest bird is the goldcrest (Regulus regulus), a tiny olive-green songbird with a yellow or orange stripe on its crown, weighing 4.5–7 g (0.16–0.25 oz). The firecrest, its close relative, is almost exactly the same size.

Goldcrests live mainly in conifer forests and parks with evergreen trees, and they survive northern winters by feeding constantly on tiny insects and huddling together at night. The Eurasian wren is often thought of as Europe’s smallest bird, but at around 8–13 g it is roughly twice as heavy as a goldcrest.

Why can’t birds get any smaller?

Very small warm-blooded animals face a problem: the smaller the body, the more surface area it has compared with its volume, so it loses heat faster. A tiny bird must burn fuel at a furious rate just to stay warm, and it can starve overnight if it cannot slow down.

Hummingbirds solve this partly by entering torpor, a deep energy-saving state in which their body temperature and heart rate drop sharply at night, as explained in how do hummingbirds sleep? They also need a steady supply of high-energy food during the day; see what do hummingbirds eat?

Eggs set another limit. A bird’s egg must hold enough yolk to build a working chick, and the bee hummingbird’s eggs are already the smallest of any bird. Mammals face similar limits: the Etruscan shrew, one of the smallest mammals by weight at about 1.8 g, also lives life in the fast lane. More tiny record holders are in our list of the smallest animals in the world.

Myths and facts about the smallest bird

Myth: The bee hummingbird is as small as a bee. It is far bigger than any honeybee. The name comes from its buzzing flight and the way it zips between flowers, and at a glance it can be mistaken for a large insect.

Fact: It is the smallest dinosaur known. Birds are living descendants of theropod dinosaurs, and no fossil dinosaur yet found is smaller than the bee hummingbird.

Fact: The largest birds are tens of thousands of times heavier. A male common ostrich can weigh well over 100 kg (220 lb), more than 50,000 times as much as a male bee hummingbird.