Bee Hummingbird is the smallest bird in the world. Adult Bee Hummingbirds are only about 2 inches (5 cm) long, including their beak and tail. They weigh less than 2 grams, lighter than a penny! Male Bee Hummingbirds are slightly smaller and more colorful than females.
The Bee Hummingbird has the largest heart relative to its body size of any creature on Earth. A Bee Hummingbird's heart accounts for approximately 2.5% of its total body weight. The human heart accounts for approximately 0.5% of an average person's body weight.
Bee Hummingbirds visit an average of 1,500 flowers per day for feeding. Their long, needle-like beaks are perfectly adapted for sipping nectar. Their tongues flick in and out of flowers about 13 times per second. They have the fastest metabolism of any bird species in the world, so they must feed every 10-15 minutes during active periods. They consume nearly half their body weight in food daily.
The Bee Hummingbird's heart beat up to 1,260 times per minute during flight. To conserve energy at night, Bee Hummingbirds enter a hibernation-like state called torpor. During torpor, their heart rate drops to as low as 50 beats per minute. Their body temperature can drop from 40°C (104°F) to 19°C (66°F) during torpor.
Bee Hummingbirds build the smallest nests in the bird world, about the size of a quarter. Females lay just two tiny eggs, each no larger than a coffee bean. The eggs are incubated for 21 days by only the female, followed by 2 days of hatching, and 18 days of care by the mother.
Bee Hummingbirds are amazing fliers. They are capable of flying in all directions – forward, backward, sideways, and even upside-down. They can flap their wings about 80 times per second. The bee hummingbird is named for the sound its wings make in flight, which resembles the buzz of a bumblebee.
Bee Hummingbirds cannot walk or hop, though they can use their feet to scoot sideways while perched. These birds have evolved smaller feet to be lighter for more efficient flying. They will use their feet for itching and preening, however
The Bee Hummingbird, the world's smallest and lightest bird, is roughly the size of the eye of a male Common Ostrich, the largest and heaviest bird on Earth.
In Cuba, Bee Hummingbird is known as zunzuncito (meaning "the little buzz-buzz") after the sound it makes and as it is even smaller than its cousin the zunzun (meaning "the buzz-buzz"), the Spanish nickname for emerald hummingbird.
