Talk:Hummingbird Hawk-moth/Sightings

My wife and I saw one of these moths in our Garden, it was facinating as it really did just look like a hummingbird. We were both really excited as it was like nothing we'd seen before. We live in a village called Rolleston on Dove, in Staffordshire in central England and we saw the moth in June 2005. Our Garden is a south facing cottage garden.


 * Congratulations! This really is a special species - it really can turn up virtually anywhere at almost any time of the year so keep your eyes peeled! Richard Barlow 7 July 2005 07:21 (UTC)

Hey, I was mowing the lawn yesterday and I thought I saw a hummingbird by the flowers. It moved just like the bird, except it wasn't very afraid of my presence. I was able to get within two feet of the "bird" when I noticed it had antennas. Upon even close inspection(almost too close for comfort on my part), the bug had an extra set of pink wings which ruled out the possibility of it being a bird. I have to wonder if it can really be considered a moth. It had thin antennas with little bulbs on top, the biggest proof it is actually a butterfly.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_between_a_butterfly_and_a_moth Also, it had colorful wings and was flying during daylight (sun was near setting). I've heard that many insects don't have ears. This bug must not have any, because it didn't hear the lawn mower nearby. Anyway, I live in Wisconsin, USA (I wonder if they come up here very often).


 * Good sighting! It's always a pleasure to see these little beauties! What you're describing is definitely a moth (The so-called differences all have exceptions unfortunately). I know you wouldn't have seen this but it would have had frenula linking the 2 pairs of wings. No butterfly has these, period. (However, some moths don't have them either!)


 * I don't see any reason why you shouldn't see them again in Wisconsin. They're strongly migratory and appear magically just about anywhere in the summer. Richard Barlow 16:55, 3 August 2005 (UTC)

I saw loads of them in Ibiza a couple of years ago. I knew that hummingbirds were not native to Ibiza, but these Hummingbird Hawk-moths are so like hummingbirds, it took a while to convince myself that they were moths, made especially difficult because they wouldn't stay still for a second. --Dumbo1 23:01, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

Very strange!!
My sister and I were out on her deck and we saw one in her petunias. She said "what is that a hummingbird?" I said "no because it has antennae!" Then she said "I wonder if it's a wierd bug and if it will sting us!" Sure enough it flew at us and scared us half to death! I just had to do some research and see what the heck it was!

This is really neat.
I went to Smith Mountain lake in Virginia for a week this summer and had one of these things repeatedly go after my beach bag while we were fishing on a small beach off of the woods. It was after something, but it left. So i took advantage( since i had no idea what that thing was) and got my banana boat sunscreen out of the bag when he was gone. He can back immediately and with out any regard to my immediate presence began attacking my sunscreen bottle! i thought it was hostile but soon discovered he was only being curious. he follow me a couple times out to the water and hovered over my head and flew away. what a magnificant moth! so beautiful!

hummingbird hawk moth seen in Dover Kent England
I would like to report the sighting of the hummingbird hawk moth. We were at my daughters yesterday and she called us into the garden to see the moth, at first we thought it was a small bird then after closer inspection we could see it was a moth. It was feeding on Honeysuckle, i have been out boat fishing today and a fellow angler from London told me what the name of the moth was. As he had seen one before in his garden. I phoned my daughter and she said it was back there again today.I think its one of the most unusual moths i have ever seen and really fantastic to watch.We were not sure if they were common to this country, but after reading your comments we see they are.80.42.199.198 16:43, 29 August 2006 (UTC)c w ryan

hummingbird hawk moth seen in Morpeth, Northumberland England
I saw a hummingbird hawk moth in my local high street feeding on a some petunias. This was at about 1pm on 10th September 2006. I have some photos at http://slocks.blogspot.com/2006/09/not-quite-humming-bird.html

Seen one in Buckinghamshire, England!
About 6:40 in the evening. They are odd, my one was sorta small and reddish, I didn't get too close in case it flew away but it seemed more willing to come near us than we were to go near it. It really does look just like a tiny hummingbird, it's bizarre. ^-^ Vitriol 17:55, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Had some in my flowers over the summer. New Brunswick, Canada
I actually have video and pictures of it that I took because I could not describe it to my wife... I didn't know what it was.

Finally figured out what that was.
About 1992, I was on a public school field trip in Kingston, Ontario, and saw this strange thing that was going flower to flower like a humming bird, but looked like some kind of insect. I've been trying to figure out what it was ever since. Nice looking moth. --Nekura 17:53, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Hungary
Saw a few in the Hungarian county of Vas Megye durin August (06). As previously mentioned does look like a bird. Absolutely fasinating creatures, which I could have watched for hours. feeding on a small blue cornflower on edge of field.Sidney Bung 19:51, 27 September 2006 (UTC)