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Hummingbird Garden

Identifying a never before seen

18 years ago

I live in central WI on the Mississippi River. Tonight I noticed a small flying bird/insect with a long humminbird like beak getting the nector out of my large petunia planters. It was the size of a huge bumble bee and had a very multi colorful tail. It did not seem to hover as most hummingbirds seem inclined to do. My husband and I have seen many hummingbirds and this was different. I got out our faithful bird book and this species was not in it.

Was it a hummingbird or is there an insect with the long thin hooked beak like a hummingbird? I ran for the camera but was not able to get a picture. Sorry the description is so sketchy but we were sort of in a daze as this was so different from anything we have ever seen.

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Comments (6)

stephenNJ
18 years ago
Hi Ms Audie,
is this your critter ? a hummingbird moth on Petunia no-less!
{{gwi:994283}}
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Deb__H
18 years ago
Hummingbird moths are great for photos. They let you get a lot closer than hummingbirds do.

Deb in PA
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msaudie
Original Author
18 years ago
I do believe you have identified my "creature". Are these common? Are they classified as a good garden visitor? I will do a google search and see what I can find out about them Thanks a million!!!
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dgower82
18 years ago
Yep, fairly common and they don't really do much damage. They are great pollinators for night blooming flowers.
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birdgardner
18 years ago
I love them - they look so cute and un-insectlike - furry flying shrimp.
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wardw
18 years ago
I love a good descriptive plate of clear-winged moths. By late July there are usually 3 or 4 kinds working the flowers. The only one other than the hummingbird moth I remember is one called snowberry clearwing. They hatched out about 10 days ago. Check out the ears of these moths.
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