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Deb Writes...

Hello,
I live in North Florida and tonight at about sundown I saw about 8 small, 1 in. reddish brown hummingbirds? The wings were moving like a hummer. The beak was long. I have also seen them around 7 AM. They were gathering nectar at my plumbago. Can you help? Is this a moth ? I did not know of a reddish brown hummingbird. I hope it is a hummingbird. I really want to attract them.
thanks for your help.
Deb

Our Reply:

I saw the same little guys here at our home in Central Florida several days ago at sundown on our Lantana. They really do act like Hummingbirds, but I am afraid that they are Sphinx moths. I studied them for about 30 minutes and managed to get a good look at their eyes, wings, legs and tails... not bird structures.

• Beak: long and curved very similar to some Hummingbirds
• Flight: Constant motion very similar to Hummingbird
• Size: Approximately 1 inch: too small, Hummingbirds in most of the USA range in size from 3.25 to 5.5 inches
• Eyes: Not bird like, too large, matched eyes of the Skippers and some of the other brown moths
• Wings: Scalloped and broad like a moth, not bird like
• Legs: I could never really be sure because of the lighting and their constant motion, but I think I saw at least two pair near the front of the body. They never really landed, but did touch down on several of the flowers.
• Tail: Rounded, fuzzy and blunt, I never saw the tail fanned out as seen on Hummingbirds during normal feeding or flight.

The mysterious visitors are the Sphinx Moth. Some have two, definite, parallel bands of light color across the middle of the lower abdomen as seen from above, while the others have a reddish abdomen.

Thanks for visiting our the Central Florida Bird Watchers web site.

Regards,

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