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Hummingbird moths

Started by bitternut, August 13, 2006, 10:46:21 PM

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bitternut

I have only ever seen a hummingbird moth 3 times in my life and they were all at my woods within the last 10 years or so. I haven't seen one yet this summer but was wondering if any of our members ever see them?

The first one I saw really amazed me and I tried to catch it with my hat. Almost got it but he was a little too quick for me. I usually plant a patch or two of wildflowers and get quite a few butterflies but no hummer moths.

If any of you see them what do you usually see them attracted to?

Burlkraft

We have had a bunch of them this year. Jill has tons of flowers and they seem to be attracted to just about all of them ;D

I've even seen them in the garden after tomato blossoms
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crtreedude

We got the critters down here - the compete with hummingbirds - but at night - pretty cool.

So, how did I end up here anyway?

bitternut

I guess our varieties of them are active in the daytime. One of the big attractions for them is supposed to be blackberry blossoms. There was a ton of blossoms this year but I still never spotted any moths even though my trail edges are lined with them.

jackpine

We have them here to but Iv'e only seen them late in the evening and on one variety of flower. I don't know the name of the flower as it came with the house :D

tinkerin

I just saw my first one last week.  It was checking out the petunias on the deck.  It liked the reddish ones but not the white ones.  The fascinating critter stayed around for about 10 minutes coming and going.  I couldn't believe how fast it could go.  I was able to get a couple of pictures of it, but they turned out pretty poorly.  It was not at all put off by me moving in close with the camera.  Much better images of them on a Google image search.  We had the brown one. 

On a side note, a couple of weeks ago I had a hummingbird fly up and hover just a few inches off my nose.  I was seriously concerned about it being interested in my eye!  It only stayed a few seconds, took off and then came back for a few more seconds.  While nervous about it's intentions I also felt that I was given a divine gift to have such a marvelous creature in so close proximity. 

crtreedude

Hmmm, do you want to explain what is attractive about your nose to a hummingbird.... ?  :o

So, how did I end up here anyway?

tinkerin


Dan_Shade

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato_hornworm

are you all talking about these things?

i've heard them called hummingbird moths too.  I had never seen the moth before this summer, only the worms.
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tinkerin

Nope, it's a different critter.  I've seen the hornworm and resulting moth.  I've seen hornworms completely devour tomato plants overnight too!

Here is a link with the hummingbird moth.  The one that I saw was the brown one.
Hummingbird Moth

Norm

I don't see the hummingbird moths here that often but this year we've had a bumper crop of the real things.



Patty planted a ton of red salvia's this year and we must have a half dozen of them around feeding on them.

Larry

Good picture Norm...got a file on the PC just set up for my bird pictures. :)

We had more hummers this year than I've every seen.  Activity peaked 2 to 3 weeks ago when we had sometimes eight hummers at both of our feeders almost continually.  Had to fill the feeders 3 times a day. 




All have headed south except for one little guy.  Don't know if he got left behind, or has decided to stay for the winter.  Feel sorta sorry for him. :'(
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Norm

We used to use feeders too Larry but stopped because of all the other pests they would attract. I'm surprised our's are still around especially since yours have moved on. As you can see in my pic this one is kind of chubby, the others are more the shape of what you'd expect in a hummingbird.

These little guys are sure aggresive, we have a hawk that hunts our place. When he shows up the other birds scatter but the hummingbirds will fly up and chase him. :D

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