Just spotted a Vervain hummingbird taking it easy after an early morning’s nectar drinking. It enjoys Jamaica’s natural subtropical and tropical moist lowland forests.
It’s the second smallest hummingbird in the world after the bee hummingbird. Just 6 cm (2.4 “) including the bill, its weight is 2-2.4 gm and supposedly lays the smallest egg of just 1 cm with a weight of 0.375 gm. The latin name for the Vervain is Mellisuga minima. Melli’ is Latin for ‘honey’ and ‘suga’ means ‘to suck’. The male has a deeply notched tail and the female tail is rounded and tipped white
We at Mocking Bird Hill particularly love their song, quite loud with “a prolonged twittering” (Downer and Sutton 1990), have a listen via this great website.
Find out more about our 8 or 11 day birding holidays in Jamaica, or visit our gardens and see 22 of Jamaica’s endemics with our 1 day birding pass
Photography- Vervain Hummingbird © Lucciola.me
