Hummingbirds
Hummingbirds are among the smallest birds on earth, measuring around 7.5-13 cm (2-3 inches). In our part of France we often see the Bee Hummingbird, which is not a bee, but a real hummingbird, but so tiny that people sometimes think it is a bee. These tiny Bee Hummingbirds gather around a red flower, which I think must be a gorse bush of some sort (I have tried looking it up on Google to no avail) in the grounds here. They measure barely 3 cm, perhaps 4 cm, and they move so quickly that it takes a while to realize what they are. In fact were it not for the long beak, I too would have long ago assumed it was a bee.
I spend quite a lot of time in Belize where there are several types, all tiny, but none so tiny as the Bee Hummingbird. But then Belize boasts a lot of wonderful plant and animal life, amazingly-plumed birds. This one (illustartion) is in Belize and measures barely 8 cms..
Catherine Broughton is a novelist, a poet and an artist. She is widely travelled and writes regularly for magazines and blog sites. Her sketches are on her web site http://turquoisemoon.co.uk . Her books are available from Amazon and on Kindle, or can be ordered from several leading book stores.
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Catherine Broughton is a novelist, a poet and an artist. Her books are available as e-books on this site:-
https://payhip.com/b/tEva “A Call from France”
https://payhip.com/b/OTiQ “French Sand”
https://payhip.com/b/BLkF ”The Man with Green Fingers”
https://payhip.com/b/1Ghq “Saying Nothing”
They are also available on Amazon & Kindle, or can be ordered as paperbacks from most leading book stores and libraries.
