hummingbirds in Australia (1 Viewer)

[Jenwin]

Hi everyone,

I read a few weeks ago on this forum that someone had spotted a hummingbird in NSW Australia. Well I believe I too saw this creature in the Dandnong Ranges in Victoria.

My husband and I were trecking through the woods and suddenly we saw what was unmistakably a hummingbird. It was very tiny, about 10cm long and had a chocolate body with white flecks on the underside of it's wings. At first I thought it must be a moth, but I managed to get right up close and see it was definitely a bird!

Has anyone else seen one?

Cheers guys

 

[PumaMan]

I found these threads about hummingbirds in Australia (on this forum):

http://www.birdforum.net/archive/index.php/t-82289.html

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=27030

 

[Tz'unun]

Hi, Jenwin,

Even in a location where hummingbirds normally occur, your description would be more consistent with a moth of the family Sphingidae, also known as sphinx, hawk, or hummingbird moths. Brown is a very common color for sphinx moths but rare in hummingbirds (whose "default" color is iridescent green). Sphinxes are also relatively oblivious to human presence and easy to observe at close range, while hummingbirds are wary and seldom allow such close approach as you describe except around feeders (if then). Note that the second post PumaMan shared also describes brown coloration and extremely close observation. Here's another relevant thread with photos showing a creature similar to your description:

BirdForum: Hummingbird, Innisfail, North Queensland, Australia

Sphinx moths are found worldwide, including Australia. The convergence in shape and behavior between these insects and hummingbirds is quite uncanny and has inspired many reports of hummingbirds from the eastern hemisphere, the most famous of which is a passage in the bestseller Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes. They have large, dark eyes, the long proboscis looks like a thinner version of a hummingbird's bill, and some species even have a tail-like tuft of elongate scales at the tip of the abdomen. My husband jokes that the first step in identifying hummingbirds is to count the legs, but both the legs and the antennae are whisker thin and easy to overlook.

 

[wings]

Yeah, I thought hummingbirds were only found in the New World. Not likely that they could survive a 10,000 mile flight to Os, even if they hop on board a ship.