Giant moths that resemble hummingbirds appear all over the Bay Area

Diane Winkler was hiking with her wife about a week ago at Point Reyes National Seashore when she spotted something that drew her up short. “Along the Abbotts Lagoon Trail, we got to a boardwalk where there's a marsh and beautiful flowers,” say Winkler, an amateur photographer from Oakland. “We saw all these little things floating around, and at first I thought, 'Aww, these are hummingbirds!'” When she got closer she saw that, in fact, they were not birds. They were giant moths with wingspans of nearly 4 inches, sucking sweet nectar from the flowers with long, snaking proboscises.

Hummingbird Moth, Sphinx Moth, Hawk Moth, Versa Moth, Hummingbird Clearwing Moth or Common Clearwing

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