Bee hummingbird

This nectarivore is a sedentary, aerial forager of forest habitat, with a geographic range of 108,900 km². It lays 2 eggs per clutch, 2 clutches per year, with an incubation period of 18.5 days, and is listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN.

Weight

1.9 g – 2.55 gsrc for Weight

Length

Not recorded

Lifespan

8.5 yearssrc for Lifespan

Diet

Nectarivoresrc for Diet

Longest recorded lifespan

10 years

Main food

flowerssrc for Main food

Habitat

forestsrc for Habitat

Egg incubation

18.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation

Young per litter or clutch

2src for Young per litter or clutch

Age at maturity

12 monthssrc for Age at maturity

Litters or clutches a year

2src for Litters or clutches a year

Lifestyle

Aerialsrc for Lifestyle

Migration

Sedentarysrc for Migration

Conservation status

Near Threatened (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

The bee hummingbird is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List: it is close to qualifying as threatened.

1. LCLeast Concern
2. NTNear Threatened
3. VUVulnerable
4. ENEndangered
5. CRCritically Endangered
6. EWExtinct in the Wild
7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Near Threatened species.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classAves
4. orderApodiformes
5. familyTrochilidae
6. genusMellisuga
7. SpeciesMellisuga helenae (Lembeye, 1850)

Synonyms Calypte helenae, Calypte helenae helenae, Calypte helenae helenae, Calypte helenae helenae, Orthorhynchus helenae, Philodice helenae

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

LC, Least Concern

Vervain hummingbird

Mellisuga minima

Trochilidae

CompareBee hummingbird vs Vervain hummingbird

• An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
  Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
• AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
  Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
• Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
  Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
• Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
  Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
• Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
• Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

@misc{bee_hummingbird_2026,
  title = {Bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/bee-hummingbird},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}