Posted on 09/20/2002 4:15:32 PM PDT by 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.
Spectacular pictures. I get the Black-Chinned and have taken a few shots(with my camera) but they’re always out of focus as they are such busy bodies...zipping here and there, you know.
Anything but ruby-throats are so rare in my area (NC) that if word gets out of a Rufous or others, birders drive for hundreds of miles for a peek.
This year seems to be skimpy as far as hummers around here.
Don’t know if there was ill winds when they were crossing the Gulf or what, but they are scarce this year.
BTW, all those photos were in Colo. and vicinity.
I’ve never seen one of those,.....thanks!
Thanks for posting this
very interesting thread.
(I never heard of these moths)
2017 bump.
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