The bee hummingbird has been reported to visit ten plant species, nine of them native to Cuba. The bee hummingbird lives up to seven years in the wild, and 10 years in captivity. It is a diurnal bird that can fly at 40–48 km/h (22–26 kn 11–13 m/s), and it beats its wings 80–200 times per second, which allows it to remain stationary in the air to feed on flowers. In one day, the bee hummingbird may visit 1,500 flowers. In this way, it plays an important role in plant reproduction. When it flies from flower to flower, it transfers the pollen. In the process of feeding, the bird picks up pollen on its bill and head. The bee hummingbird feeds mainly on nectar, by moving its tongue rapidly in and out of its mouth. The bird's slender, pointed bill is adapted for probing deep into flowers. The bee hummingbird's feathers have iridescent colors, which is not always noticeable, but depends on the viewing angle. The female lays only two eggs at a time, each about the size of a coffee bean. During the mating season, males have a reddish to pink head, chin, and throat. The tips of their tail feathers have white spots. Compared to other small hummingbirds, which often have a slender appearance, the bee hummingbird looks rounded and plump.įemale bee hummingbirds are bluish green with a pale gray underside. Please follow this link for more information.The male has a green pileum and bright red throat, iridescent gorget with elongated lateral plumes, bluish upper parts, and the rest of the underparts mostly greyish white. If I were a hummingbird I’d be careful too. Too small to fight off the venom injected by the stinger.” For example, the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird weighs approximately 3 grams (about 1 American penny) and only measures 3 – 3.5 inches (half of a dollar bill). The venom from the sting or stings of either bees or wasps can overwhelm the small body system of the hummingbird resulting in death. Even though hummingbirds eat insects as part of their diet, hummingbirds do not consider bees or wasps to be a food source. I wondered if bees actually sting hummingbirds occasionally and found this: And yes, she’s still watching it intently. This is the last shot I got with the bee still in the frame. Of all of the hummer/bee photos I got that morning, this is the only one where both bird and insect were truly sharp. She stood her ground as the bee began to move on. So after this shot was taken the hummer moved on to a different flower cluster much further away.Īgain, I don’t know if this is the same hummer as before but she had a similar reaction when this bee showed up. Went to a flower right next to the flower she’d originally been perched on. She reacted by backing off as the bee disappeared out of frame at bottom.īut six photos in the burst later the bee was back and… At this point she didn’t even know it was there.īut when the bee almost looked like it flew up her butt it got her attention. This may or may not be the same hummer but in this case the bee near her tail had sneaked up on her. She backed off a little, kept her eye on it and waited until it was gone before going back to feeding on the flowers. Most of them were honeybees but this one was a bumblebee and it sure got her attention. When they did she always stopped feeding on the flowers and watched the bee intently and sometimes she just skedaddled. I never knew when a bee was going to appear on the scene and neither did the female hummer but she sure didn’t like it when they showed up. So in these series, if the hummer is sharp and the bee is fairly soft, or vice versa, the two of them were still quite close to each other. With my photo gear, at the settings I was using and at the distance I was from the hummer (17′), I only have about 1/4″ of depth within which everything is truly sharp. In most of the photos the hummer or the bee is soft (in a couple of photos both of them are soft) because of a lack of depth of field.īut that doesn’t mean that the bird and the bee weren’t close to each other. Several species of bees love my trumpet vine as much as hummingbirds do, which sets the stage for conflict.Įach of the three series of photos below was taken a couple of days ago at the trumpet vine in my side yard.
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