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On May 29, 7:19 am, Scott Seidman wrote:
Trodding back to my car from a day on the water, I was passing
through a phlox patch, and saw what I thought was a large honeybee
gathering nectar. This might seem quite stupid, but I'm pretty sure
it was not a honeybee. It seemed to be about twice the size of a
honeybee. The wing beats were extremely fast, and it darted about
more like what I think of in a hummingbird-- very good hover, rapid
darting pattern with extremely sudden stops. There were some
prominent yellow and black stripes on the back, where an abdomen
would want to be--maybe two yellow and one black.

I didn't get a close enough look to categorically say there was no
beak, so I can't be sure, but I thought I saw a rather prominent
probiscus for nectar collection-- maybe some sort of odd moth??

I was with somebody else, and neither of us would identify this as a
bee. Any ideas? I'm in Western NY, if that helps.

--
Scott
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Sounds like a Bumble Bee. We have them here in central Texas.


Pretty sure it was a clear-winged hummingbird moth. The colors of the
abdomen match, and the behavior matches. I even saw it on purple phlox,
which seems to be a favorite.

--
Scott
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