In other words, in Cuba, there is one of the smallest birds in the world, the honey-sucking honeybird.
They are also the smallest of hummingbirds.
It weighs about 1.8 grams and has a body length of about 5 cm.
Their eggs are the size of coffee beans.
The nest is about the size of a coin.
Although small, the feathers are still brilliant
According to wired, they can suck the nectar of 1500 flowers a day.
Their wings can flap up to 200 times per second.
Can stay at the same location like a helicopter.
Because of its small size, the competitors in the feeding of hummingbirds are no longer other birds, but various insects.
So why are they so small?
Because Cuba also has a relatively large hummingbird, the kingfisher.
The researchers speculate that the kingfishers should have come to Cuba first, and after they settled down here, the ancestors of the hummingbirds came to Cuba.
In order not to become competitors for food with kingfishers, they evolved to become smaller and smaller, and eventually smaller than insects.
Now, the flowers they suck nectar on are tiny ones, so small that kingfishers don't bother to come and suck them.
However, small size can also bring some problems,
For example, their metabolism and heat loss are faster, so hummingbirds either need to eat very frequently or enter a "deep coma" state to conserve energy.
Every year when the mating season comes, the male hummingbird's feathers will change from the blue-green to a festive red helmet.
Then, a flock of male hummingbirds gathers to sing to the female hummingbirds ...
From there, the female hummingbird will pick out her favorite object for mating.
Sometimes there's more than one...
After mating and laying eggs, the female hummingbird does not want the male hummingbird to dangle by her nest.
Because their feathers are too bright, they can easily attract predators.
The female is also very careful when she goes to the nest herself, usually not flying straight to the nest.
Instead, fly to a place first, wait a while, and see that the surrounding area is completely safe before flying to the nest.
After 3 weeks, the eggs hatch...
Then use pollen and occasionally add some mosquitoes to feed these hummingbird babies...
Then, these babies can face the world alone
In recent years, however, as a result of the decline in natural vegetation in Cuba, the number of farmlands and pastures has increased.
The habitat of the hummingbird is becoming smaller and smaller, and their numbers are decreasing year by year.
Honey-sucking hummingbirds have become a near-threatened species...
ref
https://www.thedodo.com/in-the-wild/bee-hummingbird-smallest-bird?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dodo
https://www.wired.com/2015/07/absurd-creature-of-the-week-bee-hummingbird/
http://www.animalspot.net/bee-hummingbird.html
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Leaf Suga: Honey-sucking hummingbird
Honey-sucking birds sucking honey hummingbirds
If you don't wear the mask, you will die-: Good mini bird eggs
Buenos Alice this time please try a new taste nOm: when I was in elementary school, I saw it in a flower garden in China, and I was the most elf-like real creature I had ever seen
Feieiiii: So beautiful that it can't go extinct, QwQ
Sanger Sanger: This is the animal I most want to meet. It is estimated that I will cry when I see it
Wu Zhihong: It's really gorgeous, its bird eggs are so cute.
manny8710: What a cute little animal... At the end of the introduction, there is a danger of extinction...
Jin Muning: My God, it seems to be fake