Wednesday, July 15, 2009

'Hummingbird Bee' (Name This Insect)

I have no idea if this is really a bee, and it's not a hummingbird either - but it behaves and looks just like a tiny micro hummingbird - feeding off the same flowers, beating it's wings in a blur, zipping from flower to flower. Plus it's shiny, fuzzy and has a little faux bird tail. The wings and patterns though are more like a dragonfly or bumble bee, looking transparent with a more opaque border on wing, striped on the body. And even though the body looks like a moth, it's wings are not like a moth at all. This neato little thing is like the duckbill platypus of the insect world!
There are two of them in these pics, one more beat up then the other...
xoxooo
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5 comments:

  1. Miss VoodooJuly 15, 2009 at 3:09 PM

    http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/hummingbird_moth.htm

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  2. lindaJuly 15, 2009 at 6:11 PM

    Way cool!

    Who'd'a thunk it's a hummingbird moth.

    Nature is amazing (and so are your photos!)

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  3. Miss VoodooJuly 15, 2009 at 8:11 PM

    Hey Linda -
    totally, nature is so neat ! it took me a little while to find what it was - there were some false leads at first.
    Thanks for the compliment :)

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  4. AnonymousJuly 21, 2009 at 4:14 AM

    Really beautiful with nature.
    nyght
    -----------
    Free Satellite TV

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  5. kazlauSeptember 10, 2009 at 4:16 PM

    I saw this insect in Mallorca last week. It looked just like a tiny hummingbird darting from flower to flower. Your pics are fantastic - I couldn't get close enough to take a pic. I looked it up and its full name is the hummingbird bee hawkmoth.

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