Birds are warm blooded, egg laying vertebrates which evolved from theropod dinosaurs millions of years ago. There are about 10000 species of birds present in the world today and more species are being discovered everyday.
Birds of many shapes, sizes, colours and characteristics exist on the planet and it is surprising to see the diversity and variety of living birds. Some birds are so small that they are almost equal to the size of big insects. The following is a look at some of the smallest birds living on the planet:
Bee Hummingbird is the smallest known bird in the world. It has a length of only 5-6 cm and belongs to the family of Trochilidae. Bananaquit is another really small bird which has a length of 7.5-12.5 cm and is thus among the smallest birds on the planet.
Weebill, which is a bird with a body length of a mere 8-9 cm is one of the smallest birds and is followed by Pardalote bird which has a length of 8.5-12 cm.
With a length of 8.5-9.5 cm, Goldcrest is on the list of the tiniest birds in the world whereas some other small birds include Golden headed Cisticola, Brown Gerygone, Crimson Chat, Tropical Parula and the American Goldfinch.