Bee Hummingbird -- Mellisuga Helenae

The largest bird in the world is the Ostrich and as it were it lays the largest eggs as well. The North African Ostrich is approximately 2.74 m (9 feet tall!!!) and weights in at about 154 kilograms (340 lbs!!!!) THAT would be a scary bird. Ostriches can run to 46 miles per hour too. This is not a bird to mess with.

Ostrich

Fernadina's Flicker (Kingsnake.com)

Fernadina’s Flicker is in the woodpecker family. It is a very pretty bird. It can only be found in Cuba. And unfortunately, it is endangered with only 600-800 left. This is due to the loss of habitat brought about the many hurricanes Cuba faces, logging and farming and because danger presented to them by other bird species, such as the West Indies Woodpecker which kill their little chickies. =( This is very sad indeed. I do hope they can work on this problem before they become extinct. I still miss the dodo bird I never met.

Incidentally, the largest population of this bird is found in the Zapata Swamp near Playa Larga in Cuba and I’ve been to this place but was not aware of this bird at the time. Pity! I didn’t get to see it or photograph it. However, it is not really a social bird anyways always fighting with other woodpeckers and not hanging out with many of its own kind, so it may be easy to miss. It is primarily an insectivore and like most insectivores it also enjoys seeds and berries from time to time.

Here you can find Cuban postage stamps with the Fernadina’s Flicker and also where these birds are found in Cuba.

For more information you can read this page as well.

And for the record, I found this bird on accident while researching another bird and thought it was worth researching.

La Sagra's Flycatcher (Photo Source: http://www.kingsnake.com/westindian/myiarchussagrae1.JPG)

This interesting bird eats mostly insects but also likes berries and seeds. Aside from the insects I could go for their diet. That is about what I like nowadays! =) Fun stuff. They are approximately 7.6 – 8.8 inches (19-22cm) as fully grown birds. They prefer a tropical climate and only accidentally show up in Florida. This classifies them as a “vagrant bird” (a term birders use to refer to birds that come accidentally or by chance to a location rather than normal migration patterns).

I found this bird from Luke Dempsey’s book, “A Supremely Bad Idea: Three Mad Birder’s and Their Quest To See It All.”