This is Bird Note.

Cuba is home to unique warblers, hawks, and other birds found nowhere else,

including one species that takes the prize for the world's smallest bird.

Your best bet for tracking down the tiny wonder is along a forest edge hung heavily

with vines and bromelians. There hovering at the flowers, if you squint hard enough,

you'll find the bee hummingbird.

The bee hummingbird is an absolute miniature, even among hummingbirds.

It measures a mere two and a quarter inches long.

Bee hummingbirds are often mistaken for bees.

They weigh less than two grams, less than a dime.

That's half the weight of other common hummers, like the ruby-throated or rufus.

The female builds a nest barely an inch across, and her eggs are about the size of a coffee bean.

In flight, bee hummingbirds' tiny wings beat 80 times a second,

and during a courtship flight, they beat up to 200 times per second.

The male's entire head and throat shine in fiery pinkish red,

and blazing red feathers point like spikes down the sides of the breast.

A sight to behold.

For Bird Note, I'm Mary McCann.