Interesting facts about the unusual bird hummingbird bee. The bee hummingbird is the tiniest bird in the world Status of the bee hummingbird species

Everyone has probably seen a bee, or at least imagines what size it can be. Now imagine that there is also a ... bird of the same size! Yes yes, the weight is miniature bee hummingbirds(Mellisuga helenae) is only 1.6 grams, and the length of the body, together with the tail and beak, does not exceed 5 cm. During the flight, it makes more than 90 flaps of its wings per second, while its heart beats at a speed of 300 to 500 beats in a minute. This bird is the smallest of the representatives of birds known today on our planet.
The bee hummingbird lives exclusively on the territory of modern Cuba and the island of Youth. Compared to other members of the family, the described species looks round and stocky.
The male small bird has reddish-pink feathers on the head and throat, greenish-blue on the back, and gray-white on the chest.
The female is colored a little less brightly - greenish, with a slight admixture of blue, above, and pale gray below. In the rays of the sun, birds look like precious stones, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow.

With such a small size, bee hummingbird feeds almost exclusively on nectar, and can visit up to 1,500 flowers per day. For these purposes, she has a thin long beak, which she plunges into the bud, and then licks the nectar with quick movements of her tongue.

A miniature nest (about 2.5 cm in diameter) is built by a female bee hummingbird from cobwebs, pieces of bark and lichens. Then she lays eggs, each of which is no larger than a pea. Incubation and rearing of offspring is also carried out exclusively by the female.

Read about other representatives of the animal world.

Hummingbirds are amazing birds that live in the tropical zone of America. More than 330 species are known.

The smallest is the Cuban bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae). She is also the smallest bird in the world and the smallest warm-blooded animal on Earth. The male is only 5 cm long from beak to tail, weight 1.6-1.9 grams, i.e. about the same as two paper clips. The females are slightly larger, but they appear tiny compared to some beetles and butterflies, i.e. the size of a bee.

The bee hummingbird is a very strong and fast creature. She flaps her wings at a speed of 80 times per second. The shiny and iridescent feathers of the bee hummingbird make it look like a tiny gem. However, its multi-colored color can not always be seen, it depends on the angle at which a person looks at the bird.

During one day, a hummingbird-bee manages to visit about 1500 flowers!

Interestingly, bee hummingbirds build cup-shaped nests that do not exceed 2.5 cm in diameter. They are made from cobwebs, bark and lichens. And in this nest, the hummingbird lays two pea-sized eggs.

The largest representative, the gigantic hummingbird, whose habitat covers some areas of the western part of South America, can reach 19-22 cm in length and weigh 18-20 grams.

Most of all, hummingbirds can be found in those places where large bright flowers of the tropics grow. These birds never land on the ground: during the day they fly tirelessly, and at night they sleep, while hanging upside down on the branches.

Small, energetic and lightning fast, the hummingbird is one of the most amazing creatures on earth. The hummingbird got its name from its ability to quickly flap its wings. Small species in their normal state make 50-80 strokes per second and up to 200 strokes if the male takes care of the female (from the English ‘humming-bird’ - a buzzing bird). The strikingly fast beats of a hummingbird's wing create an audible, characteristic "muffled buzz." Very often, hummingbirds are called natural helicopters, and this is due to the fact that they are able to perform all the maneuvers that a helicopter performs: they can hover motionless in the air, take off and land vertically, and also fly in the opposite direction.

Hummingbirds can perform incredible tricks in the air. In order to collect nectar from flowers, her main food, she must have special skills. A hummingbird can fly close to a flower to penetrate it, hover motionless in the air until it collects enough nectar, and then fly back from the flower to pull its beak out of it. To carry out all this, the hummingbird needs special properties that can provide this bird with this type of flight.

The hummingbird's wing has a unique structure in which the upper elytra and forewings are small and stiff. The wings are composed almost entirely of feathers and muscles. The movement of the hummingbird's wing is closely related to its structure. Thanks to its ability to change the angle of the wing, it performs amazing movements that are beyond the power of any other bird. And so the flight of a hummingbird is different from the flight of any other bird. Most birds flap their wings up and down, but the hummingbird does not flap its wings up and down, but back and forth, which allows it to generate lift in both forward and backward flapping.

Many people think that hummingbirds feed exclusively on flower nectar, but in fact, the basis of the diet of most species is small arthropods, which they find in flowers or on the surface of leaves. Occasionally, birds manage to catch an insect flying or stuck in a web. In a day, a hummingbird can fly up to 2 thousand flowers. In 16 hours, they are able to drink up to 120 times more liquid (nectar) and eat twice as much food as their body weight.

Hummingbirds are very active birds, they live alone, constantly flying in search of food. They have a very fast metabolism and a night for them is equivalent to dozens of days of life for a person. They cannot afford to spend such a long period of time without food, therefore, with the advent of night, when the air cools, they fall into a stupor, in which the metabolism slows down significantly. During such "hibernation" all life support processes are slowed down, and the body temperature of birds drops sharply from 42°C to 17-21°C. As soon as the first rays of the sun hit the body of a hummingbird, it immediately warms up and comes to life.

Hummingbirds never land on the ground because they their legs are small and weak, absolutely unsuitable for walking.

This little bird's heart makes up approximately four percent of its total body weight. At rest, the heart of a hummingbird usually beats at a frequency of 500 beats per minute, and during physical activity (flight) 1200 beats per minute

In all species of the hummingbird family, the shape of the tail and beak varies greatly. Their thin beak can be long, pointed-short or arcuately curved. The tail is usually short, cut, sometimes long, forked. The wings of miniature birds are sharp and long.

The plumage of a hummingbird is small, characterized by incredibly bright colors and iridescent brilliance. In different sexes, feathers can vary greatly in shape and color. For example, females are more dull than males. In addition, the representatives of the stronger sex are characterized by bizarre shapes of head and tail feathers. Another interesting feature of the plumage of these birds is the ability to refract incident light in different ways. For this reason, the shades of some parts of the body can change depending on the point of observation - as soon as the hummingbird turns in the other direction, the unremarkable greenish color begins to glow with purple fire.

Tropical species of hummingbirds breed all year round, while northern species breed only in summer. The care of males for procreation is limited to mating and protection of the nesting territory, and the female is engaged in building a nest, incubating eggs and raising offspring. Most species make their nests in bushes, trees, some attach them to leaves and rocks with the help of saliva. The finest blades of grass, plant fibers, moss, lichens, cobwebs and wool are used as building materials. Birds hang their nest from the ends of leaves or thin branches, bravely and fearlessly defending it, rushing even at larger birds.

Female hummingbirds most often lay two tiny white eggs that incubate for 14-20 days. Chicks are born naked, weak and helpless. The hatched babies are fed by the female with flower nectar, which she brings in her beak. They need to be fed very often, because from hunger they can become stupor and weaken to such an extent that they cannot even open their beak. Returning to the nest, the parent hummingbird literally forcibly feeds the chick, after which it instantly “comes to life”. Thanks to such nutrition, babies develop very rapidly and leave their native nest within 20-25 days after birth.

The specific name of this crumb is quite true. With an average length of five and a half centimeters and a weight of less than two grams, the male bee hummingbird really does not exceed the size of representatives of the largest species of bees. Megachile pluto with a maximum body length of 3.9 centimeters. This is an absolute world record: smaller birds simply do not exist on earth.

Endemic to Liberty Island

bee hummingbird ( Mellisuga helenae) comes from Cuba, where it was once ubiquitous. However, recently, due to the deforestation - the main habitat of its habitat - the range of the bird has become extremely uneven. Today, the bee hummingbird can be found mainly in Havana, in the Sierra de Anafe mountains, on the peninsulas of Guanaacabibes and Zapata, in the municipalities of Moa and Mayari in the province of Holguin, as well as on the coast of Guantanamo Bay. In addition, earlier the bird was also found on the island of Youthud adjacent to Cuba.

The bee hummingbird is a non-migratory species. However, there is evidence of her visits to the neighboring Bahamas and the Florida peninsula. At the same time, reports about it in Jamaica and Haiti are assessed by many experts as erroneous.

Short description

Despite their meager weight and size, bee hummingbirds, in contrast to their usually graceful relatives, look rather densely built strong men. Their appearance depends on the sex, and in males it also depends on the season.

Males of this species are smaller than females, and with an average length of 5.51 cm (including beak and tail), they weigh only 1.6 - 2 g. A 10-kopeck coin weighs about the same.

Females are slightly larger: their average length is 6.12 cm, and their weight is about 2.6 g. Thus, they “pull” almost 50 kopecks. The average wingspan is 3.25 cm.

Like all hummingbirds, "bees" are excellent flyers. According to some estimates, the speed at which they flap their wings is 80 beats per second. This is so much that individual movements become indistinguishable to the human eye.

The female bee hummingbird is slightly larger than the male and has white spots at the ends of the tail feathers.

The coloration of males and females outside the breeding season is quite similar. The exception is the spots at the ends of the tail feathers - black and white, respectively. The color of the back may also differ, which in the male “bee” usually has a more pronounced blue tint, while in the female it is more green. The breast of both those and others is gray.

For the breeding season, the male dresses up. Brilliant rose-red feathers appear on its head and chin, and a bright iridescent necklace elongated from the sides appears on its throat. Shortly after the end of this period, the front dress is discarded, and the male again assumes his usual appearance.

Did the job - fly away boldly

Hummingbirds are solitary birds. They do not gather in flocks, do not form permanent pairs, and outside the breeding season, each live on its own.

The breeding season usually begins at the end of the rainy season or the beginning of the dry season, i.e. March-April. It ends in June.

To attract females, males gather on a lek, where they try to impress them with their singing. Females can visit several leks a day, choosing the “performers” that they like the most. Both males and females can mate with several partners in one season.

The mating process is the only role that the male plays in the reproductive process. Immediately after it, he flies away and does not participate either in choosing a place for the nest, or in its construction. Raising offspring is also not included in the circle of his worries. All this is done exclusively by the female.

Male bee hummingbird during breeding season.

On the branches of trees at a height of 1 - 6 meters, she builds a tiny (about 3 cm in diameter) nest of thin twigs and plant fibers. Outside, for masking, the nest is laid out with green moss, inside for comfort - with various fluff and wool. The whole structure is reinforced with cobwebs or other sticky substance, which allows the nest to expand twice as the chicks grow.

The clutch usually consists of two white pea-sized eggs (no more than 6 mm in diameter), which the female incubates for 14 to 16 days. The chicks hatch blind and completely naked and helpless. The mother feeds them by regurgitating the brought food, which she pushes with her beak through the throats of the chicks directly into their stomachs.

When the chicks reach the age of 18 - 38 days, they leave the nest and begin an independent life. Hummingbird bees become sexually mature at the age of about one year.

Gluttonous owners

The breeding season of the hummingbird-bee is timed to coincide with the flowering of many trees and shrubs, including its favorite food plant, solandra grandiflora ( Solandra grandiflora). Nectar is the main food of adult hummingbirds of this species, and in solandra it has the highest concentration of sugar (15 - 30%).

By the way, many Cuban endemic plants depend on bee hummingbirds for pollination. The evolution of their flower shape has paralleled the evolution of their beak shape, and they are now difficult to pollinate by other birds and insects. Such interdependence is a perfect example of co-evolution, the mutually beneficial adaptation of different species of living beings to each other.

To feed themselves, each bee hummingbird visits up to 1500 flowers of different plants per day, spending most of the day feeding. This Cuban baby has an extremely fast metabolism: every day she must eat a volume of food equal to half her body weight, and drink eight times more moisture than she weighs herself. Therefore, gluttonous bee hummingbirds (especially males) aggressively defend their feeding places, driving away both other individuals of their species and bumblebees and hawk moths that encroach on their feeding territory.

During feeding, the bee hummingbird hangs near the flower and laps the nectar with its long tongue at a speed of 13 times per second.

In addition to nectar, various small insects also enter the diet of the hummingbird-bee. This type of food is especially important for chicks, since the nectar contains practically no protein necessary for their growth. Therefore, during the feeding period, the female has to catch up to 2 thousand insects daily.

natural habitat

The bee hummingbird inhabits mainly dense forests and forest edges, as well as mountain valleys, swamps and gardens. Prefers areas where the already mentioned large-flowered vine Solandra grows - her favorite source of nectar.

Unfortunately, at present, only 15-20% of Cuba's territory remains relatively untouched by man. As the forests covering the island are reduced to the needs of agriculture, the number of bee hummingbirds is also declining. And although the species is not threatened with extinction right now, such a threat may appear in the very near future. Therefore, the World Conservation Union has assigned the conservation status of the smallest bird of the planet as “a species close to a vulnerable position”.

River bent in an arc

At first glance at this sharp bend in the Colorado River in northern Arizona, USA, it becomes clear where its name comes from - the Horseshoe. With its almost perfectly symmetrical 270 degrees of turn, this river meander really looks like a horse's "shoes". The unusual shape, picturesque cliffs over 300 meters high and comparative accessibility have made the Horseshoe an extremely popular tourist attraction. Today, it is one of the most recognizable and frequently photographed natural landmarks in the Southwest United States of America.

How to bend an entire river into an arc

According to geologists, the Arizona Horseshoe arose about 5 million years ago, when, as a result of the tectonic uplift of the Colorado Plateau, the ancient Colorado River on the border of the future states of Arizona and Utah was forced to adapt to the new terrain. Following faults in local sandstone massifs, she gradually carved a whole canyon into them. Today it is known as the Glen, and the Horseshoe is its most intricately curved section.

The color of the rocks and water at the Horseshoe changes throughout the day. Some of the best shots are taken at sunset.

In 1963, the canyon was almost completely flooded by the huge Powell Reservoir. It retained its original appearance only in the southernmost part, about 24 km long (where, in fact, the Horseshoe is located).

By the way, Glen is the northern neighbor of the famous Grand Canyon, which has a very similar geological history.

Easily accessible beauty

Horseshoe is one of those few phenomenally beautiful places that travelers with almost any physical ability can reach. It is located just 6.5 km southwest of the Arizona town of Page, from which the 89th highway leads to the bend. A dirt road turns from it between milestones No. 544 and No. 545, and then almost immediately there is a special parking lot and the beginning of a hiking trail. A short ascent to a small pavilion on a hill, then a gentle descent - and a mighty bend of the Horseshoe opens before your eyes.

In general, a walk there and back, a distance of about a couple of kilometers, takes about 45 minutes.

You can go to the Horseshoe all year round, permits and separate tickets to visit it are not required. You will only have to pay for access to the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, on whose territory the Horseshoe is located. Access costs $25 from a private car and is valid for up to seven days.

In the National Recreation Area, it is forbidden to litter, as well as to disturb wildlife in any way and leave inscriptions. You can walk dogs on a short leash (no longer than 1.8 m).

Going to the Horseshoe, it is recommended to take plenty of water with you (at least 1 liter per person), as well as sunglasses and a hat, because there is no shade on the path except for the gazebo halfway. For those who are fond of photography, a wide-angle lens is mandatory - without it, the scale of the Horseshoe simply cannot be covered. Of course, you should be careful on the observation deck - there are no railings and fences on it.

The height above sea level at the observation deck of the Horseshoe is 1285 m. The height above the Colorado River is just over 300 m. There are no fences, so you need to be careful. In July 2010, a Greek tourist fell and died here.

In terms of the beauty of the scenery, the best time to visit the Horseshoe is from about 9:30 am (when the river gets rid of its thick shadow) until noon. At noon itself, due to the lack of shadows, the view of the famous bend will be somewhat flat. Evening until sunset, inclusive, is also a good option, but in this case the sun will shine in the eyes.

In relative proximity to the Horseshoe, there are several other first-class attractions at once. So, directly north of Page is the imposing wall of the Glen Canyon Dam, 220 meters high, beyond which the Powell Reservoir begins. 45 km west of the Horseshoe lies the famous Arizona Wave - a sandstone rock formation of absolutely incredible beauty. And 12 km in the opposite direction (that is, to the east) is the equally famous Antelope Canyon.

And finally, southwest of the bend downstream of the Colorado River begins the Grand Canyon - one of the most unusual and impressive geological features of the globe.

Remarkable freshman

At the top of one of the taiga-covered mountain ranges of the Gremyachinsky district of the Perm Territory, there is a powerful rock mass cut up by deep cracks. Crossing it crosswise, large and not very clefts form a bizarre labyrinth, reminiscent of the streets, alleys and squares of some long abandoned settlement. This is the so-called Stone Town, one of the most popular tourist destinations of the modern Prikamye.

Three names for one place

Today Stone Town is widely known not only to Permians, but also to many guests of the region. Here, despite the remoteness, a constant flow of travelers stretches all year round. However, this was not always the case: a couple of decades ago, only a few local residents knew about Stone Town, and even then under completely different names.

Cracks in the rock mass of the Stone Town form a network of large and small "streets".

The fact is that modern tourists have already called this place Stone Town, and earlier for half a century it was called "Turtles". This name was given to it in the middle of the 20th century due to the characteristic shape of the two highest remnant rocks by residents of the neighboring mining villages of Shumikhinsky and Yubileiny, founded in 1953 and 1957, respectively. However, this name was not the original either: the old-timers of the most “age” settlement of these places - the village of Usva - have long known these rocky outcrops as the Devil's Settlement.

Such a name is not uncommon for the Ural toponymy. Not far from Yekaterinburg, for example, there is a spectacular mountain of the same name, very popular with tourists and rock climbers. In addition, objects with a similar name are also found in other regions of Russia, since rocky massifs and unusually shaped stone ridges were usually called devilish settlements. Obviously, people, not knowing the true geological reasons, attributed their construction to evil spirits.

History of appearance

How did the Permian Stone Town actually arise?

Scientists have established that 350 - 300 million years ago there was a large river delta in this place. Its mighty streams brought with them large masses of sand, which eventually turned into powerful sandstone deposits. Later, as a result of the movement of tectonic plates that caused the formation of the Ural Mountains, the territory of the future Stone Town was raised high above sea level and began to be weathered.

Quartz sandstone of the Stone Town. The brown color is due to the admixture of iron hydroxides.

Over long millions of years, water, wind, temperature changes and chemical processes have deepened and expanded the cracks in the rock that appeared during the tectonic uplift. This led to the emergence of the current "streets" and "lanes", which at the moment can be up to eight meters wide and twelve meters deep. In other words, from a scientific point of view, the Permian Stone City is an accumulation of weathering remnants composed of fine-grained quartz sandstones.

Road to Stone Town

Given today's great popularity of the Stone Town, it is hard to believe that it is not even mentioned in the old guidebooks around the Kama region. Nevertheless, this is true - the rush demand for the Gremyachinsky remnants appeared among Perm travel enthusiasts only in the last one and a half to two decades, and before that, due to poor transport accessibility, they were practically unknown to the mass tourist.

Fortunately, the situation has changed since then, and today Stone Town can be easily reached by car. The general route is as follows: first, the road to Usva (188 kilometers from Perm, 383 from Yekaterinburg), then about two more kilometers along the highway towards Kizel. Then turn right to the villages of Shumikhinsky and Yubileiny and five kilometers along the forest dirt road to the car park. Further, turning left from the road, about a kilometer and a half march along a well-marked path and among the trees the first remnants of the Stone Town will begin to be seen.

At the top of the Rudyansky spoy

Since the Stone Town is located near the main peak of the Rudyansky spoy mountain range (526 meters above sea level), the path from the dirt road to the remains goes up a small slope. The ridge begins on the outskirts of the village of Usva and stretches 19 kilometers north to the city of Gubakha. It was named Rudyansky because of the Rudyanka river flowing in its southern part, in the basin of which iron ore was mined at the beginning of the 19th century. Spoils in the Perm Territory used to be called forest-covered long mountain ranges without pronounced peaks.

The rocky outlier Turtle is the main symbol of the Permian Stone Town.

The stone city (not counting the numerous single stones scattered around it) is divided into two unequal parts. The first rock outcrops that tourists go to belong to the so-called Big City. It is in it that the two largest local remnants rise - the Big and Small Turtles, because of which the Devil's Settlement changed its name in the 1950s.

The smaller of these remnants, due to its similarity in shape to a perched bird, is today better known to tourists as the Feathered Guardian. The larger one, accordingly, is now more commonly referred to simply as the Turtle. Between him and the Feathered Guard there is a vast and almost horizontal platform - the so-called Square. Tourists get to it along the Prospekt - the widest (up to four meters) and the longest crack in the Stone Town. The almost sheer walls of the Prospect in places reach eight meters in height.

The feathered guard, as well as the Turtle seen behind it, often becomes the object of annual rock climbing competitions held in the Stone City between rescuers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, mountain tourists and speleologists of the Perm Territory.

To the right and to the left of the Prospect narrow cracks-streets depart. One of them (the one that goes around the Turtle) has the highest - up to 12 meters - walls in the city. On the other two, you can climb above the rock massif and from there, in all its glory, you can see both the Stone Guard and the Turtle in front of you.

About 150 meters north of the Bolshoy is the Small Town. Despite a much smaller area compared to its neighbor, it is also very interesting and picturesque. Its main "street", for example, is even more spectacular than the Prospect described above. In addition, there is a curious stone ridge with a through hole in the base. The only problem is that there is no clear path to the Small Town, and it is not always easy to find.

You can come to Stone Town at any time of the year, but it is especially beautiful here on sunny autumn days. At this time, you can wander endlessly through its streets immersed in bright colors. That is why at the end of August and at the beginning of autumn in the Stone Town there is the largest influx of visitors.

However, many tourists come here in winter, when both the remnants themselves and the trees growing right on them are effectively covered with snow-white caps of snowdrifts. Therefore, going to Stone Town in the winter months, you should not be afraid that the local paths will be impassable due to deep snow. They will certainly be well trodden by groups of previous visitors.

Stone Town is located immediately to the west of the main peak of the Rudyansky spoy ridge. From here, unforgettable views of the boundless ocean of the Ural taiga open up.

Before visiting the Stone Town, you need to stock up on water, as there are no large water sources in it. Also, since since 2008 this landscape natural monument of regional significance has received the status of a specially protected natural area, certain rules of conduct should be followed.

Firstly, it is possible to make fires in the Stone Town only in specially equipped places, using only dead wood and deadwood for this (it is forbidden to cut down living trees and shrubs). Secondly, you can not litter and leave unextinguished fires behind. Thirdly, it is forbidden to disturb animals and make inscriptions on rocks, stones and trees. Violation of these rules threatens with a fine of up to 500 thousand rubles.

Stone Town is not the only natural attraction in the vicinity of Usva village. Not far from it is, for example, such a "flagship" of the tourism industry in the Perm Territory as the Usva Pillars - a huge and extremely photogenic stone ridge with a picturesque remnant of the Devil's Finger. Rafting on the Usva River is also very popular among Permians.

In general, the remnants of weathering, similar to the Stone City, associated with the selective destruction of mountain ranges, are one of the most spectacular geomorphological objects of the Kama region. There are especially many of them on the flat peaks of the Northern Urals, such as the Chuvalsky stone, Kuryksar, Larch ridges and on the Kvarkush plateau.

The smallest bird on the planet is called the bee hummingbird. It belongs to the hummingbird family and is endemic to the island of Cuba. Also, this bird is found on the island of Youthud, which is located at a distance of 50 km south of Cuba. This unique baby does not live anywhere else. The habitat is limited to wooded areas and swamps of Salata (a peninsula in the western part of Cuba). The naturalist Juan Gundlach discovered and described this bird for the first time in 1844. However, this description became known to wide scientific circles only after 6 years in 1850.

Description

The body length with tail and beak is 5-6 cm, weight is 1.6-1.9 g. This bird can easily be confused with a large bee. Outwardly, males and females are somewhat different, while males are smaller in size than females. Males have a bright red throat, the upper body is bluish, and the lower part is grayish white. The females are bluish-green above, while the chest and belly are pale gray. There are white spots on the tips of the tail feathers.

During the mating season, the heads of males acquire a reddish-pink color. Outwardly, the birds look round and stocky. In the sun, the plumage of these babies shimmers, and the bee hummingbird can be mistaken for a tiny jewel. The beak is thin, pointed and perfectly adapted for deep probing of flowers.

Reproduction and lifespan

These birds breed in March - June. After pairing, the female builds the nest. It takes her about 10 days to do this. The building material is pieces of cobwebs, pieces of bark, lichen. The nest has a cup-shaped shape with a diameter of no more than 2.5 cm and is located at a height of 3-5 meters from the ground on a thin tree branch.

In the clutch there are 2 eggs with sizes from 6 to 11 mm. The incubation period takes 3 weeks. Hatched chicks fledge on the 2nd week of life. They leave the nest and fledge at the age of 18-20 days. In the wild, the bee hummingbird lives up to 7 years. In captivity, the maximum lifespan is 10 years.

Behavior and nutrition

These feathered babies are extremely fast and nimble. They make 90 wing beats per second. They feed mainly on the nectar of flowers, very rarely they eat small insects. Flying up to the flower, the baby hangs over it in the air and sucks out the nectar. It can feed at any height. But he collects a flower drink from only 15 species of plants. At the same time, 10 of them grow only in Cuba. During the day, a small bird visits up to 1.5 thousand flowers. When feeding, pollen from flowers falls on the beak and head. As a result, bee hummingbirds carry pollen and play an important role in plant reproduction.

conservation status

The number of this species has decreased over the past decades. The reason is the reduction of the natural habitat. Forests are cut down, and this negatively affects small beautiful birds. Previously, they lived throughout Cuba, but now they are forced to live only in separate, isolated areas. At the moment there is no program to preserve the unique population.