Hi John,
I think what the person is seeing is the Hummingbird Hawk-moth
Macroglossum stellatarum. They are often mistaken for Hummingbirds.
They are very widespread, and occur from Europe through to Japan and
down into Africa, so I would imagine that they would also be found in
the Seychelles. I did a double-take the first time I saw them in
Southern France. They are fascinating to watch as go from flower to
flower and then hover in front of a flower and extend an incredibly
long tongue into a flower to suck nectar. The make quite a loud
humming noise, particularly when they hover. They are also grey in
colour. You can read all about them at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macroglossum_stellatarum
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
On 14/04/2009, at 4:17 PM, John Leonard wrote:
In the latest New Scientist there’s an article about how Malachite
Sunbirds in South Africa are beginning to hover to exploit the tubular
flowers of an introduced South American shrub. In the comments someone
from the Seychelles responded to the statement in the article that
hummingbirds are only found in the Americas by saying ‘we have
hummingbirds here, they are grey’. What bird is he seeing?
--
John Leonard
Canberra
Australia
www.jleonard.net
"I rejoice that there are owls." Thoreau
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
==============================
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
=============================
|
