Hummingbirds are amazing creatures, but do you know just how spectacular they really are? Hummingbirds break a variety of avian records in unexpected ways, making these tiny birds even bigger standouts in the bird world.

8 Amazing Hummingbird Records

World’s Smallest Bird

It is no surprise that a hummingbird takes the honors of the smallest bird species in the world. The bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae) measures just 2-2.25 inches long, and weighs just 1.6 grams – less than half a penny!

These tiny birds are endemic to Cuba and can be found nowhere else in the world.

Smallest Bird Eggs

It’s logical that a hummingbird would hold the record for the smallest bird eggs. The vervain hummingbird (Mellisuga minima) lays eggs that are just .39 inches long – very slightly smaller than the bee hummingbird’s eggs. This is a normal egg size for the vervain hummingbird, not an abnormal or sport egg that is significantly smaller than other eggs in the same clutch.

These hummingbirds and their tiny nests are found in Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.

Fastest Wing Beats

Hummingbirds are known for their phenomenal flight capabilities, and they can flap their wings faster than any other bird species. The blue-tailed hummingbird (Saucerottia cyanura) is the fastest flapper of all, with wing beats up to 80 times per second in regular flight – not a dive or mating display when wing beats may be even faster.

These speedy flappers are found in Central America from the very southern tip of Mexico to northern Costa Rica.

Longest Proportional Bill

While many birds have bigger bills than hummingbirds, the sword-billed hummingbird (Ensifera ensifera) has the longest bill of any bird species proportional to its own body length. This hummer measures 5-5.5 inches long, and its bill is an additional 4-4.75 inches. The bill is so heavy and unwieldy, these birds must hold their bills at a steep angle to minimize neck strain.

Sword-billed hummingbirds are found in the high Andes Mountains from western Venezuela into central Bolivia.

Highest Frequency Sounds

Many birds have beautiful voices and can make a range of high pitched sounds, but none beats the black jacobin (Florisuga fusca). While most birds make sounds from 2-10 kilohertz (kHz), the black jacobin regularly sings in the 10-14 kHz range. This is potentially audible to humans – our ears can detect up to roughly 20 kHz, though we lose the upper range hearing sensitivity (those very high pitched tones) as we age.

Listen for the black jacobin in eastern South America from Brazil to Uruguay.

Highest G Forces

The extra push of g-forces can be a thrill on a roller coaster, but the Anna’s hummingbird (Calypte anna) makes a regular thrill ride of its mating flights with steep dives that can reach 9-10 gees when the birds pull out from the dive – the highest voluntary g-force of any known vertebrate. For comparison, astronauts in the early days of space travel only experienced 6-7 gees for launch and reentry of most missions, and space shuttles launched at just over 3 gees.

Watch for the Anna’s hummingbird’s outstanding dives from southern Alaska to northern Mexico and the northern Baja peninsula.

Highest Hummingbird Migration

Some hummingbirds set records just for their group of roughly 325 hummingbird species. The rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus), for example, has the highest recorded migration flight of any hummingbird, having been spotted at 20,000 feet altitude – quite the height for a tiny bird. These same hummers also have the longest distance hummingbird migration at 3,000 miles for a one-way trip.

Watch for the record-breaking flights of rufous hummingbirds from Alaska to Mexico.

Biggest Hummingbird

While the bee hummingbird is the world’s smallest bird, one hummingbird stands above the rest as the largest hummingbird species. The aptly-named giant hummingbird (Patagona gigas) is a whopping 9-9.1 inches long – bigger than many warblers, chickadees, finches, bluebirds, and other popular species. Yet these birds with their hovering flight and needle-like bills are very much hummingbirds!

Watch for the giant hummingbird in the Andes Mountains from the very southern tip of Colombia into northern Chile and northwestern Argentina.

Which hummingbird record has surprised you most? Keep a close eye on these tiny birds – you never know what records they may be up to next!