Bumblebee
Common name: Bumblebee Hummingbird
Scientific name: Selasphorus heloisa
Clades: Mellisugini - Bees
Endemic to Mexico
The Bumblebee Hummingbird is 5.9 to 7.5 cm (2.3 to 3.0 in) long and weighs 2 to 2.7 g (0.071 to 0.095 oz).
A tiny (bumblebee-sized) hummingbird of humid forests in the Mexican mountains. In evergreen forest clearings and edges where other hummingbirds gather, it prefers shrubby clearings and edges. Hovering horizontally with its tail cocked, the bird feeds. Males sometimes sing persistently from an exposed perch, despite being very inconspicuous. In males, the gorget is expansive, magenta-pink and the tail has white corners and a rusty base. Unlike males, females have dark spots on their throats and the same pattern on their tails. Despite being very similar, the range of the Wine-throated Hummingbird does not overlap.
2 subspecies:
S. h. margarethae
Distribution highlands of NW and W Mexico (SE Sinaloa and SW Chihuahua to Jalisco).S. h. heloisa
Distribution highlands of NE, C and S Mexico (C Tamaulipas S to Guerrero and Oaxaca).