“What are those tiny little hummingbirds I see on my butterfly bush?” a Fragments reader wanted to know a few years back.
I knew right away what she was seeing, and I think every summer since I’ve tried to snag a few images from the clearwing moths that do their hummer impersonation at our shrubs just outside my window.
This one was caught in a flurry of flapping and feeding. They never cease to amaze me–how they coordinate complex hovering flight with a brain the size of the dot at the end of this sentence.
Stumble it!
3 responses so far ↓
1 bluemountainmama // Jul 31, 2007 at 10:22 am
great capture, fred! now i’ll know what these are next time i see them……
2 FloydCountyMama // Jul 31, 2007 at 9:33 pm
We were visiting friends in Rocky Mount a couple of years back and saw one of these impersonators in action. We were entranced, thinking that we were actually watching a baby hummingbird (having never actually seen a baby one, only the full grown variety). It took us almost half an hour of watching to finally determine it was a moth after all. Amazing critter.
3 fran // Sep 2, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Been living in Tennessee for 3 years and have lots of hummingbirds. Thought I was seeing things when I spotted this critter. Great picture. Glad to know I’m not crazy.
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