Hummingbird Imposters (Mystery Solved)

Self | 9-20-2002 | blam

[blam]

The last three years, at this time of year, I have put out my hummingbird feeders and I presently have 12 feeders hanging around my house, each feeder has 5-6 birds around it.
I have hummingbirds everywhere.

Now, over these last three years each evening as I go out to refill the feeders I catch sight of a strange looking 'bird' that quickly disappears so fast that I began to question whether I actually saw anything. Well, three days ago I finally got a good look at one of these critters.
It is a hummingbird looking thing but a little more fluffy and maybe a little more puffy than the 'standard' hummingbirds. I went to the library and looked through all their hummingbird books and didn't anything that looked like this 'bird.' I was beginning to think that I'd discovered a new species of hummingbird. This 'thing' does not go to the hummingbird feeders but to the flowers nearby that the hummingbirds do not bother with. I don't know what the flowers are but they are shaped like trumpets and I have decided that they are to deep for the hummingbirds to reach the nectar at the bottom. Last night I went on-line and below is what I found.

"We have had numerous reports of small orange and brown or zebra-striped "hummingbirds." These are usually hawk moths (or sphinx moths). They act just like hummingbirds, but they are insects."

These critters have a 'fold up' straw that is about six inches long that they fold out (like a carpenters folding rule) and insert into these flowers and get the nectar at the bottom.

Anyway, I thought I may enlighten some other Freepers to these Hummingbird Imposters
BTW, when the hummingbirds leave here, they fly for 26 continuous hours across the Gulf Of Mexico to the Yucatan.

[blam]

"the only hummingbird found in the southeast is the ruby-throated. "

No, no. There are more varieties here than the book indicates. I've seen them, I just can't name'm.

[potlatch]

Interesting that a Pileated Woodpecker was seen in Jasper, Tx. being so far south! Remember, that's the town where the poor black man [Willy Horton ?] was dragged to his death. It's near Beaumont, which is getting close to Louisiana.

My husband spends a fortune on Hummingbird , and regular bird feeders and food. He also has squirrel feeders!! The Whitewing Doves come and eat all the Cardinals sunflower seeds. We may stop going to 'the valley' for Whitewing season, and just shoot them here!! LOL.

[georgiegirl]

We're avid fans of hummingbirds too. Every summer we put out 3 large feeders, and they swarm around the sugar water (we never use food coloring) like bees. We have also seen the moths that look like hummingbirds, but never at the feeders. They seem to love tarweed. We had one breathtaking and a bit grueling observation a few summers ago--a huge preying mantis sat at the feeder for days. We wondered about it but paid no attention until we saw it's "arm" braced around the neck of a hummingbird, sucking out it's life. The poor little bird just fluttered it's little wings helplessly. Have you seen any thing like that?

[blam]

"Have you seen any thing like that?"

No. That must have been a big Preying Mantis. Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for them around the feeders.

[fatima]

Although various larger birds, snakes, and mammals raid hummingbird nests for eggs and chicks, predation is not a major cause of mortality in adult hummingbirds. Animals known to have caught and eaten hummingbirds include cats, small hawks and owls, shrikes, roadrunners, orioles, tanagers, large flycatchers, grackles, seagulls, largemouth bass, frogs, spiders, and praying mantises.
http://www.rlephoto.com/birds/hummer01.htm
Hummingbird caught by a mantis!

Ruby-throated Hummingbird, (Archilochus colubris) caught by a Praying Mantis!
Found in Dare County, NC on September 09, 2000 during the NABA fourth of July Butterfly Count in Dare County.

This photo is just as I found it after hearing the hummer`s wings a buzzing from about 15 foot away. I called Will Cook and Toni Rexrode to see it. With the help of Will and Toni`s binoculars we figured out it was captured by a mantis from the rump sticking up above it.

We watched for about a minute and they talked me into freeing it. I waded through the 6 foot tall weeds to get to it and took the above photo. Sorry about the back lighting, but I wanted the photo to represent the way we found it.


Larger image

Once I waded the tall weeds I grabbed the goldenrod and gave it a violent shake with the hope of freeing the hummer! Well you can see the mantis had a very firm grip on it no question. Once the goldenrod settled down I noticed that the female hummer had her entire throat ripped open and she had no chance of recovery.

I was so stunned by this shredded open neck I didn't really want to take a photo or position the hummer for a better photo. Therefore I took this photo which shows the size of the mantis and doesn't show the badly torn neck of the tiny hummingbird.

The car was a bit far away and I didn't have the appropriate lens and a reflector to improve these photos, but that`s the way it goes sometimes.

Special thanks to Jeff Pippen who did all the driving!


Larger image

I used my Canon A2, 100 macro lens handheld.

[Spirited]

Thank you for the information this post provided. It answered lots of current questions for us.

But then your posts are normally spectacular.

[georgiegirl]

Thanks for the stunning photos. How rare are those!

[SunkenCiv]

Old topic, very cool though. I was a little disappointed that the "recipe" somewhere above was for hummingbird *food* rather than an actual hummingbird recipe. Mmm, squab...

[blam]

Yes, this turned out to be a pretty good thread. Geez, three years old now.

[freedumb2003]

What in the World??????

[blam]

"What in the World??????"

Hey, we cover everything on FR.

[Vinnie]

Pic of hummingbird moth taken by my son in Pa.

[blam]

Excellent picture. The moths I saw were a lighter color.

[mysterio]

Hummingbird imposter :

[TChris]

Here's a link to more pics of a Hummingbird Hawk Moth.

I was very startled by one of these suckers once. I was a teenager, playing Babe Ruth league baseball. I stood in the outfield, waiting for the pitch. I heard the distinctive humming sound directly behind me. I turned around and that ugly beast was just hovering there, seemingly inches from my face. (The closeness may have been my imagination.) I just about jumped out of my shoes.

[Vinnie]

Apparently there are several varieties

[mewzilla]

Lovely pic your son took!

But that critter still reminds me of Mothra! :)

[gdc314]

Hi Blam,

I had the same mystery for a few days. Hummingbirds feeding at night? After extensive googling, I learned about the moths. The one I was seeing was feeding on natural flowers, usually about 10PM or so. I never knew they existed until this year. Pretty neat IMO.

gdc314

[arizonarachel]

ew, creepy. I was so confused when I saw this thread from 02 pop up!

[blam]

"I had the same mystery for a few days. Hummingbirds feeding at night? "

Yup. Same here. Mine usually showed up just before sun down and fed on the natural flowers. I never did see them at the hummingbird feeders.