Last spring, I spotted a smallest bird of about one inch length fly past my guava tree. I wondered about it that I have discovered a tiny bird myself. Recently I was in my garden standing before the Periwinkle plant that was in its full bloom. To my amazement that tiny bird I discovered earlier came into the scene again; it visited each flower; collected nectar like a hummingbird and flew away!
But I later found it to be a moth and not a bird. Yes, it is the Hummingbird Hawk Moth (Macroglossum stellatarum, Bee moth, Hummingbird moth).
It had its proboscis resembling the beak of a hummimgbird; it hovered, produced a humming sound and even had a fan-tail! Its fore-wings were brown and hind-wings were orange. Wing span was about 4cm. This moth is found in warmer regions. It lays about 200 eggs that are green colored. Colorful larvae hatch out in six days. Pubae are brown and lie in silky cocoons.
Unlike other moths this hawk moth feeds on nectar even at daytime also! It is a wonder moth in every aspect that it wondered me and cheated me by resembling a hummingbird exactly!
Click and view a video here and identify yourself:
Is it a bird? Or a moth?
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