In search of the smallest bird in the world

Today is Saturday, December 11, 2021 and it is the day selected to start the search for the Fly Bird, who is considered the smallest bird in the world. It is a beautiful hummingbird with the scientific name Mellisuga Helenae Lembeye and in English it is known as Bee Hummingbird.

This hummingbird is native to Cuba, they live in tropical humid and rainy forests, as well as often visit agricultural plantations, gardens and scrub forests. They can be found in other countries such as the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Puerto Rico.

It measures approximately 5 centimeters and weighs approximately 1.8 grams, the male being smaller than the female, both have beautiful colored plumage, their beak is very fine black and their tongue is extremely long. It feeds on the nectar of flowers and small insects.

Its reproduction has very peculiar features, to attract the interest of the female, the male performs a dance around her, during mating he is capable of flapping his wings 200 times per second.

They build their nests of only 3 centimeters in diameter in low trees, made with moss, branches and other materials to lay a maximum of two eggs, which will hatch for 19 days.

THE FIRST SIGHTING

On this occasion I scheduled the tour through a wooded area located north of the Alejandro de Humboldt National Park, in the east of the Republic of Cuba.

We started the search at 6:00 am with little light among pine trees and small bushes, where sightings of the Bird Fly have been known to exist.

When we reached a height of approximately 200 meters above sea level, we were able to enjoy a spectacular sunrise full of colors in the middle of a calm sea.

From the arrival of the first light of the sun you could hear the song of many birds such as the Tocororos and the Cartacubas, of which I took many photos, we also saw several hummingbirds, but none were the Fly Bird.

At approximately 10:40 am, feeling a little tired from the walk, I felt an intense flutter of a bird over my head, looking up I saw what I was looking for, it was the Bird Fly.

The position in which I was to take the photos was uncomfortable, since it was against the light and I knew that I could not make sudden movements so as not to scare the bird, I slowly turned on my camera and raised it little by little until I adopted the position to take photos. , I was a little nervous and my hands were sweating, I felt that I was in the presence of a unique moment that I could not ruin.

I took several photos and the bird moved from the branch, again I had to change position to continue photographing, my heart wanted to come out of my chest, in the blink of an eye the little bird disappeared from my lens, I looked for it to see if it was in other branches, but I couldn't find it, I had just fulfilled one of my dreams.

This is how this long-awaited meeting ended, now came the uncertainty of the quality of the photos taken, since the upward position did not allow me to distinguish the colors of the bird well, and my camera is a SONY DSC-HX1 a little old.

The photos taken on this adventure constitute important evidence of my first sighting in the wild of the smallest bird in the world.