At first glance the Hummingbird Moth looks like a hummingbird. But the Hummingbird Moth is not a hummingbird at all. It is a moth. They are sometimes called a Sphinx Moth or a Hawk Moth. The hummingbird moth can sometimes be mistaken for hummingbirds or even baby hummingbirds, however, baby hummingbirds do not fly.
And those little feathers out of place on the top of its head are not feathers, they are antenna. Another clue is if the creature allows you to get closer to get a second look without giving you an earful and zipping away at the speed of light, it is probably a hummingbird moth. Also, if it has brown striping or yellow and black striping along its back (and it's not a bumble bee), it's most likely a hummingbird moth.
The hummingbird moth belongs to the family of moths technically called the Sphingidae family or Sphinx family of moths. A hummingbird mo
th can be considered to be a medium to large moth. They tend to fly strong and fast like a hummingbird with a rapid wing beats. The hummingbird moth will feed on a flower much like a hummingbird. But instead of a beak and tongue to lap the nectar, they have little straws to sip the nectar from a flower. These little straws are called a proboscis.
There are many different types of Hummingbird Moths. These can include the Snowberry Clearwing Hummingbird Moth, the Tersa Sphinx Hummingbird Moth, and the White-lined Sphinx Hummingbird Moth.
The moths that frequent the Big Build are White-lined Sphinx Hummingbird Moths. White-lined Sphinx Moths have an adult wingspans exceeding 5 inches. Larvae can be just as long, with most having a prominent horn at the rear of their fleshy body. When alarmed, these larvae rear up their heads in a threatening sphinx-like posture and may emit a thick, green substance from their mouths.
The White-lined Sphinx Moth ranges in length from 2 1/2 to 3/12 inches. It has a prominent brown head, a brown thorax with 6 white stripes and a brown abdomen with paired dark spots on each segment. The forewings are brown with a buff-colored band from base to tip and viens outlined in white. The hind wings are pink, turning to dark brown near the margins.
Sphinx Moths emerge at dusk from their hiding places and begin feeding on the nectar of flowers. Their size, combined with their rapid wing beats, allows them to hover and feed in the manner of hummingbirds, for which they are sometimes mistaken.
This manner of flight requires a great deal of energy and creates a good deal of heat in the moth's body. For these reasons, moths feed exclusively on nectar and seek flowers which produce large amounts of this water source which also contain high amounts of sugar. Such is the case with the Salvia Family which the White-lined Sphinx Moth is responsible for pollinating.
