Hummingbirds

All 11 species of hummingbirds on WAnimals

Each one has its own full profile. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.

Conservation status

Where they live

Recorded in 24 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:

Where to see them

Did you know…?

• Its heart can beat up to 1,200 times a minute in flight.

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• It migrates non-stop for more than 800 km across the Gulf of Mexico.

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• It feeds on nectar, taking small insects for protein.

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• The only bird whose bill is longer than its own body; it has to perch with the bill pointing skywards.

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• It is the only bird in the world whose bill is longer than its body, and it cannot preen with it: it uses its feet to clean its plumage, something no other hummingbird needs to do.

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• At rest it holds its bill pointing steeply upwards so as not to overbalance, a posture that makes it unmistakable even in silhouette.

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• Its iridescence is on the rump, not the throat: from the front it looks like a plain brown hummingbird, and only when it turns does it show a flash of copper and violet.

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• It lives above 4,000 metres at some points in the Andes, where the night-time temperature drops below zero all year round, and it depends on nightly torpor to survive.

Ecosystems