Aug27

may just be fairies?

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hummingbird moth (Strawberry Clearwing) on an american germander plant 

enjoying a visit to my daughter’s native garden

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Hummingbird moths have been seen as a lucky omen. Lore has it that a swarm of the moths was seen flying across the English Channel on D-Day, the day of the Normandy landings in WWII.

One of the sweetest insect visitors in a garden is the hummingbird moth. They fly and move just like hummingbirds. Like them, they can remain suspended in the air in front of a flower while they unfurl their tongues and insert them in flowers to sip their nectar. They even emit an audible hum like hummingbirds. Often people notice what they think is a tiny hummingbird fleeting around the flowers and are shocked when someone explains to them that what they just saw was not a bird but a moth.

Hummingbird moths are rather plump; the tip of their tail opens into a fan. Their wings are covered by scales; some species lose many of the scales from patches on their wings, so are called clearwing hummingbird moths. They are tiny and have a body length of 1-2 inches and a wingspan of 1.5-2.5 inches. Like most moths they have a very long tongue which they carry rolled under their chins and that they use to reach the nectar of long-necked flowers. Such nectar is inaccessible to many other flower visitors, so it seems that these flowers prefer long tongued pollinators and try to keep the others away. 

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moth-ku

sweet hummingbird moths

  flying beauties flitting wings 

may just be fairies

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bk

 

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photo credit: oldest daughter, HP

source credits: *Phillip Prichard, University of Georgia, U.S. Forest Service, Discovery Journal, Native Suburbia

 *Phillip Prichard, is a Paulding UGA Extension Master Gardener, Master Birder, and a UGA Master Naturalist, who teaches  horticulture, sustainable landscaping, and environmentally friendly gardening practices using unbiased, research-based information from the University of Georgia.

 

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45 responses »

  1. I have never seen these in England, but during a summer holiday to Bulgaria some years ago, I saw them in huge numbers around the flowers in the grounds of the hotel. Not knowing they were moths, I rushed to see them up close, thinking they were actual hummingbirds. But one of the hotel gardeners told me they were insects.
    Best wishes, Pete.

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  3. I love these little guys! We had a larger population of them than usual this summer. At one time, I saw four visiting my pink petunias out front, scrabbling to see who could do the most sipping!

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  10. Wonderful photo. They are such sweet and beautiful moths. The first time I saw them, at the Chicago Botanic Garden I thought they were humming birds. I’d never seen them before. What a treat that they are in your daughter’s garden. ❤️

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