Hummingbird Moth

Cellphone photo by B. A. Nilsson

SPOTTED THIS CRITTER at an outdoor garden center in Guilderland, NY, yesterday, and marvelled at its hummingbird-like appearance. "It's a hummingbird bee," someone there told me, which I later learned is a common colloquial moniker. There's actually a bee hummingbird, the tiniest species of that wee flyer, but it's based in Cuba. This guy is a moth.

It has a fascinating proboscis, which it curled and aimed and straightened as needed, and it visited flower after flower as I watched, letting me get much closer than any hummingbird ever allowed.

But it's still a quick little thing. With only a cellphone camera at hand, I did what I could, but, if you've never seen one of these, I think you'll be interested.