Wierd bug or was it an animal?

[SgtMaj]

I saw a wierd bug/animal at the nursury the other day.  It was just a little larger than a large bumble-bee (which is what I thought it was at first).  But it flies just like a hummingbird, and it's back-side is squared off.  I got a pretty good look at it, and even though it never stopped flying I'm almost positive I saw tiny tail feathers, and I KNOW it used it's tail in flight for stability, just like a bird would.  It also used a straw to suck the nectar from the flowers... but the straw was like a butterfly's drinking straw... as in it curled up.  Didn't get a look at the wings because they were beating way too fast to see.

Anyone know what this could be?  Is it an insect or a super-tiny humming bird perhaps? 

[SgtMaj]

You know what?  No sooner than I posted this, than I thought to try a different search term I hadn't used before, and I found it....

It's called a hummingbird moth... here's a pic that looks like the one I saw...

[MrILoveTheAnts]

Yep sounds like a Hummingbird moth. I believe they use our native honeysuckles as a host plant.

[Shawn]

Yeap, I saw one in my bee garden. It was using the cat mint quite a bit.

[qa33010]

   Yep!  We have some here also.  When I first saw one I had the camera and thought it was some kind of hummingbird.  A friend of ours said probably a moth.  Sure enough!

[BlueBee]

Yeah, I see them all the time here.  I really enjoy them.  I caught this one last month hoping it might be a female and hoping I might be able to get some eggs from it.  No such luck, so I let it go.  Anybody know how to tell the males from the females?

Just before he/she went zooming off.