Pond Visitors on July 4th

[rally]

Happy 4th All,

For my pond and my location in New Jersey it was a remarkable day for pond visitors. Just to the west of our pond is our main flower garden and it helps attract guests as well.

Spent the day trimming dead leaves and overgrowth mostly. In no particular order I observed;

ladybugs
mantis
2 species of dragonfly, have seen many last few weeks
white moths
spicebush swallowtail butterfly
wasps
honey bees
bumble bees, many this year

not to mention more flies and beetles than i could ever hope to identify

But the highlight came near the end of the day when i finally got around to working on the pond filter. Fortunately I was on call for my job today and had to keep my cell handy so i happened to have a camera with me when this critter showed up. First time i ever even heard of one, let alone seen one in my backyard.

At first I thought it was a hummingbird but when i googled around i found what it really was. You can see in the video my reaction when he turned and moved towards me, yes he kind of startled me.

Was a fun summer day, hope you all had a fun holiday.

Rally

 

[Mmathis]

Huge moth? We had something like that a few years ago -- had a vine [Moon Vine, or something like that]. The giant moths came around dusk. Really neat! And, yes, I thought they were hummingbirds, too. Haven't seen them in a while. Need to plant more of that vine next year.

 

[addy1]

They are so neat, we have a bunch on our flowers, look so much like a hummingbird in how they fly and hover.

Thanks for sharing your finds!

 

[j.w]

Never seen one here before but have heard our radio garden guy talking about how cool they are and now that I seen yours it really does look like a hummer and pretty cool!

 

[Becky]

How cool! I remember seeing one of those on holiday in France one year - now I know what it was!

 

[don't ask]

yep if what i'm thinking and recall correctly, that's why they are called hummingbird moths

 

[mgannon]

wow! that is awesome! I'm in NJ too, where are you? I hope to see one of those round my pond!

 

[rally]

it has come back several times now, here's a better video i captured;

im near Mount Holly in Burlington County

rally

 

[j.w]

He/she is really pretty and looks like it a good sized moth!

 

[addy1]

We have the all over our garden, have to look twice to see if it is a moth or a hummingbird.
Our yard is full of bees, butterflies (tons of swallow tails this year) the little white ones, dagonflies The critters love the plants. Love it first thing in the am, go out and sniff, the flower perfume is so wonderful