A ‘hummingbird’ in Lalbagh!

by September 15, 2013 Environment
You might confuse this creature with Hummingbird - but it’s not! Meet the unique species that has helped in enriching the fauna in Lalbagh.

Dhiraj Gaurh was astounded by a very large creature, which, he felt, might be a Hummingbird. Here are the excellent shots he got, of the creature drinking nectar from Aster flowers:

He posted the link to the photos in the egroup of the Bird Watchers’ Field Club (contrary to its name, this is a group of enthusiasts of all forms of wildlife and nature.) Several people (Rachna Shetty, Gautam Krishnan, Vijay Krishna, Ravi Vaidyanathan, Anubhav Vanamamalai, Nandhu Sridhar)  promptly responded to him,  identifying this, not as a Hummingbird (we do not have them in India), but as the Hummingbird Hawk Moth

Its hovering behaviour, accompanied by an audible humming noise, makes it look remarkably like a hummingbird while feeding on flowers.

So…the next time you see something which might be a bird…it might not, actually, be one!

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About Deepa Mohan

Deepa Mohan is a freelance writer and avid naturalist.
Read more by Deepa Mohan

Comments:

  1. Amruta says:
    September 17, 2013 at 9:37 am

    nice clicks of hummingbird

    Reply
  2. ridhima says:
    September 25, 2013 at 11:52 am

    nice photographs and thanks for bringing this to attention.

    Reply
  3. Roli Srivastava says:
    June 22, 2017 at 7:59 am

    Thanks for the information. I saw exact same creature in my terrace garden and took it for a humming bird

    Reply

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