PeeWee Hummer

Bird of the Day Series, Social Media Content

This is the world’s smallest bird, the Bee Hummingbird, so named because they are often mistaken for bees. They’re 2” long and weigh less than a dime. You’ll only find them in the forests of Cuba. There is one other hummingbird there, the Emerald. The Emerald was tougher so, over time, this bird shrank to survive. Now, he doesn’t compete with other birds for food; he competes with insects.  

One cool thing about this bird is that, in mating season, the males form choirs, or ‘leks’. First of all, their heads, chins and throats turn a fiery dark pink. Then they group together, and sing a series of songs. The females visit each lek and select mates based on their singing performance. They copulate, then the males go back to singing. A male may mate with hundreds of females in one season. In flight, the Bee Hummingbird’s wings beat 80 times a second; during courtship, they beat 200 times per second.  

The female, who is also promiscuous, builds a nest which is less than 1” in diameter--nests have been seen on the heads of clothespins. She will lay two eggs, the size of coffee beans. The babies are born blind, immobile and bald; their mother has to thrust her beak down their throats and put food directly into their stomachs.

Outside of mating season, these birds are loners. They spend most of the day feeding, as they have to eat half their body mass and drink eight times their body mass in water each day to support their metabolism. They may visit 1,500 flowers a day, licking at nectar 13 times per second. They also eat 2,000 insects a day. They catch insects in flight; sometimes they steal prey from spider webs. But they are prey too, eaten by frogs, fish, spiders and other birds. If they don't eat enough, they fall into a self-protective torpor.

The Bee Hummingbird was formerly common and widespread, but so much of Cuba’s natural vegetation has been destroyed, it is now rare and classified as Near Threatened.