Earlier this summer, I saw a creature that I had never seen before. As I was standing next to our little greenhouse, watering some plants as I recall, this curious creature came flying toward me. At first I thought it was a hummingbird but not having seen one of those before, in person, I was not totally sure. Yet the critter hovered around me, there were two large planters of fresh blooming flowers on the table and it flitted from blossom to blossom, giving me a very good view of itself. I noticed that it was not feathered, which discouraged my thinking it was a hummingbird, yet it was of a size similar to my understanding of hummingbirds, and it flew in just the same way...beating its wings so fast as to make them seem just a blur. Instead of feathered, it seemed to have bristles like an insect and it also seemed to furl and unfurl a long proboscis (like a butterfly) instead of having a long beak.
So when I got home that evening I did some research and discovered that I had been graced by the presence of a hummingbird moth:
(Image courtesy of Ontariowildflower.com)
Interesting looking critter isn't it?
Peace and comfort, brothers and sisters
(Image courtesy of Ontariowildflower.com)
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4 comments:
That is quite the unique little critter! Mother Nature amazes me with her infinite beauties.
That is quite the unique little critter! Mother Nature amazes me with her infinite beauties.
I'm glad that didn't happen to me,. because a little movie just went through head and it was like this:
AImee in the garden, blissfully picking beans (or whatever) when this thing flies up and hovers near her head.
"oh, a hummingbird! Oh how beautiful.....OH! OH MY GOD! HELP!!! WHAT IS THAT THING? A BUG! ITS A BUG THE SIZE OF A BIRD!"
arms start to flail, i begin to jerk about unbecomingly and grab a shovel and beat it to death. Then I run in the house sobbing.
Giant flying bugs, YUCK
Thanks for the picture, though, I like bugs safely in photographs.
LOL, sorry for traumatizing you momentarily.
Actually, the baskets of flowers had far too many large blossoms for it to have any interest in my head at all. But if one has a phobia I'm sure it would have felt like it was at my head no matter what.
It really was stunning to behold though.
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