©Alix Cotumaccio
April 5, 2025
Zunzuncito in the House
- as seen by -
Alix Cotumaccio
After a long morning of cycling in the Cuban countryside, our local guide decided we needed to stop at his friend’s house before lunch. He was mysteriously quiet about the reason why but hinted that it’d be worth it if we liked birds. When we walked onto the back patio of the modest house, we were blown away. The small yard was packed with buganvilia, passionflower, and other flowering plants, and they were all buzzing with hummingbirds.
While mesmerized by these little birds flitting from one flower to the next, I noticed one that was smaller than any other hummingbird I’d seen. The bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae), or zunzuncito, is the smallest bird in the world at about two inches long.
This species is endemic to the island of Cuba, enjoying areas of thick growth that contain vines and epiphytes. Notorious for being hard to photograph because of its quick speed and tiny size, I was lucky to capture this picture of a male bee hummingbird at one of the feeders hanging along the wall.
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