#hummingbird

[thiscountry]

baby hummingbird

[northernpintail]

Zoom in for tiny hummingbird foot

[all-iridescent-birds]

What are the biggest and smallest iridescent birds?

Hello dear Anon! As our bird interest is a bit of a new thing, some research was in order to deduct our answer, and we're still not quite sure. However, we've given you our best attempt. For something perhaps more professional, you might want to go to a-dinosaur-a-day, who we believe is actually qualified to talk about this. We're just a guy obsessed with birds.

Now, explanation out of the way -- the smallest we can tell you with certainty. It is the bee hummingbird, a tiny, the smallest, in fact, bird in the world.

The bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae) is only 2 inches long. Females are slightly longer, but only by a small fraction, and usually lay two eggs, with them being the size of coffee beans. Let that sink in. While their iridescent feathers are not as notable as their other hummingbird relatives, they are still there, and still as shiny as ever.

Now, here's where it gets tricky. We're not sure what the biggest iridescent bird is. Taking a guess, we'd say it's the peafowl. But when you look this up, you don't get a concrete answer, which makes sense, because no offense, no one ever asks this question. But don't worry! We side with you here -- we're just as curious.

Well, we've been doing some math here. At first, we were thinking of the microraptor, wondering if a prehistoric bird would count before we remembered the peafowl exists. But we put it to the side. Then, we remembered the resplendant quetzal and its ginormous tail -- we looked around different pages and totaled the tallest possible quetzal to be around 4 foot on the higher end, but it still wasn't enough. So we looked up the peafowl.

The peafowl has 3 types -- all sharing traits but all fairly different in ways. The one we're focusing on right now is the green peafowl.

The green peafowl (Pavo muticus) is the largest peafowl of the three. As its name suggests, it is primarily green, while the indian is primarily a bluish color, and congo variants are kind of brown.

This is the bird we're talking about here. While maybe not in height (but probably in height), it's definitely in length. Males, pictured above, can be 5 feet and 11 inches at lowest to 9 feet 10 inches at highest. And its iridescence is everywhere, from its tail to its beak, basically.

Honestly, we'll be shocked if this isn't the biggest. Wikipedia describes the green peafowl as 'perhaps, the longest extant wild bird in total beak-to-tail length', as well.

We hope this answers your and anyone else's questions, Anon!

TL;DR: It's the bee hummingbird and green peafowl. Probably!

[herpsandbirds]

Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) albino, family Trochilidae, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA

photograph by ryany1117

[teacupchimera]

randomly got inspired to do this little painting of a hummingbird on her nest! done in just under 2 hours :>

please reblog if you enjoy! <3

[revretch]

Playing a game of poker with these and carefully studying my hand

[pencilzart]

[rowansugar]

Anna's hummingbird, a charming little friend.

Buy prints here!

[thiscountry]

Angry Rufous

[the-wolf-and-moon]

Arp 142, Hummingbird

[birdblues]

Violet-tailed Sylph

[atinorx]

pigeon, night jar, & allen’s hummingbird

[todaysbird]

the orange-throated sunangel is a member of the hummingbird family found solely in venezuela and colombia. known for their bright orange throat (which is more reddish-brown in females), this sunangel is a sedentary species often found in tropical or subtropical forest. like other hummingbirds, they primarily feed on nectar, but they will also feed on small insects and arthropods.

[herpsandbirds]

Fiery-throated Hummingbird (Panterpe insignis), family Trochilidae, order Apodiformes, found in Costa Rica and Panama

Photograph by Aves y Estampas