As I strolled around my Decatur yard this week, I spied what appeared to be an unusual hummingbird sipping nectar from my lantana flowers. But it wasn’t a hummingbird. It was a large insect, a so-called hummingbird moth that amazingly looks and acts like the tiny bird.
Like a hummer, the eye-catching moth hovers over a blossom, unfurls its long tongue and pokes it into the flower to sip the nectar. Its fast-beating wings even emit an audible “hum” like a hummingbird.
Like me, many folks easily mistake a hummingbird moth at first sight for a real hummingbird. That’s especially true this time of year, when hummingbirds and their insect look-alikes both are flitting about our yards in hot pursuit of nectar.
You won’t see a hummingbird moth, though, at a backyard feeder. The moth prefers flower nectar, zipping from bloom to bloom to feed and, in the process, acting as a plant pollinator in remarkably the same fashion as hummingbirds.
Unlike the vast majority of moths, which are active only at night, hummingbird moths fly during the day, especially in late afternoon.
Four species of sphinx moths in North America are called hummingbird moths. Perhaps the best known in Georgia is the common clearwing hummingbird moth (Hemaris thysbe) — an enchanting insect with a 2-inch wingspan and typically having a golden olive thorax and a burgundy to black abdomen.
Its wings are transparent with a reddish-brown border.
The moth’s usually green caterpillar is known as a hornworm for the harmless spine on its posterior. It feeds on plants that include honeysuckle, dogbane, or some members of the rose family such as hawthorn, cherries, and plums. After about four weeks of nonstop feeding, the caterpillar crawls into the ground where it pupates for a few more weeks and then emerges as an adult.
IN THE SKY: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer: The moon will be first quarter on Wednesday night. Mercury is low in the east just before dawn. Venus and Mars rise in the east about an hour before dawn. Jupiter is low in the west just after sunset and sets about two hours later. Saturn is low in the southwest just after dark and sets just before midnight. It will appear near the moon on Tuesday night.
