Easter weekend was beautiful, especially Saturday when the warm sunny weather caused the locals, including myself, to crawl out of our holes and head to the garden centers and plant nurseries. Home Depot was enjoying a lively crowd including a woman from my puppy kindergarten class (Jack’s mom) and we were all excited when a UFO was spotted. What on earth was it? At first glance it looked like a small hummingbird hovering, but on closer inspection it turned out to be a large moth merrily drinking nectar from the colorful flowers through its long proboscis. It had a striped back like a bee and and was not the least bit intimidated by the iPhone that I held close in order to capture it in a photo.
This lively moth created a tizzy in the garden center and was the highlight of my afternoon of plant shopping. When I got home I googled “moth that looks like a hummingbird” and sure enough got a reply. My oracle told me that it was a hummingbird moth, otherwise known as a sphinx moth. Unlike other moths that prefer the dark of night these moths feed during the day; they like the same types of flowers that attract hummingbirds; and they are excellent pollinators. Go on down to Home Depot or check out your own garden. Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to see one too.
Hummingbird moth at Home Depot
Sand Canyon Almanac 
awesome
Wow picture! Hope you then bought some periwinkle blue scabiosa for your garden to attract more hummingbird moths… x0 N2
I did not because I have a hard time growing things here. I did plant some evening primrose that’s related to the native plant that grows here. It blooms well and a sphinx moth came and drank from one of the flowers. Unfortunately, my puppy ran up and tried to eat the moth, and it flew off.
Thank you for the wonderful, descriptive dialog and photos. I live in Sand Canyon near the Big Red Barn and was cutting a few ends off of a wonderfully fragrant flowering tree to put into home bouquet on Sat 5/4/13.. I spotted small hummers drinking the nectar from the cuttings. I called my husband over to watch them because these were the smallest hummers, maybe 2 inches long. They’re sure cute for their size. A “feather” shoots straight up from the head and the proboscus is long. After they poke it into the flowers a few times the proboscus curls a few loops and the end goes in the mouth to drink. We love every moment of living on the edge of the desert and continue to meet the creatures we share out planet with.
Thanks for the comment. Living here is fun!