Bee hummingbird

Mellisuga helenae · The bee hummingbird is the smallest known bird, native to the island of Cuba in the Caribbean.

Also called Zunzuncito, Helena hummingbird.

Bee hummingbird
Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0
Bee hummingbird
Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0
Bee hummingbird
Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassAves
OrderApodiformes
FamilyTrochilidae
GenusMellisuga
SpeciesMellisuga helenae

Where it lives

Forests and woodland edges of Cuba and the Isla de la Juventud.

Fun facts

  • A bee hummingbird beats its wings 80–200 times per second, which lets it hover in place while it feeds on flowers.
  • In a single day, one bee hummingbird may visit 1,500 flowers.
  • Bee hummingbirds can eat up to half their own body weight in food on a typical day.
  • Each egg a female lays is only about the size of a coffee bean.

Play it

The Bee hummingbird was the creature in Birder on November 1, 2026. Can you identify tomorrow's from its photos? Every day brings a new creature to place from kingdom to genus, map and name.

Play today's creature or replay a past daily

Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).