# Ooooh, this is England, and in my garden, a hummingbird...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooooh-this-is-england-and-in-my-garden-a-hummingbird/125683
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [August 26, 2002, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooooh-this-is-england-and-in-my-garden-a-hummingbird/125683 "2002-08-26T21:14:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2002, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooooh-this-is-england-and-in-my-garden-a-hummingbird/125683/1 "2002-08-26T21:14:09Z")
You have hummingbirds in England? I never knew that.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2002, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooooh-this-is-england-and-in-my-garden-a-hummingbird/125683/2 "2002-08-26T21:15:45Z")
Sorry; hamsters ate my post, which was to be this:
> [@](#):
>
> …except that it wasn’t; it was the [Humming Bird Hawk Moth](http://www.avnet.co.uk/portfolio/home/hbhawk.htm); it really does look and move \*exactly like a little hummingbird, so it was still a magically fascinating encounter in every way.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2002, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooooh-this-is-england-and-in-my-garden-a-hummingbird/125683/3 "2002-08-26T21:18:33Z")
[Here](http://people.freenet.de/jfeldhusen/Hummingbird_Hawk_Moth.htm) is a page with a short avi clip, but I’ve not viewed it because it’s encoded in divx, which I have yet to install…
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2002, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooooh-this-is-england-and-in-my-garden-a-hummingbird/125683/4 "2002-08-26T21:59:39Z")
Hmmm, the video clip on that page does not do it justice; the wingbeats of the creature (which are very rapid to the extent that the wings are just a blur to the eye) have suffered a stroboscoping effect on camera.
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### Author:  [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2002, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooooh-this-is-england-and-in-my-garden-a-hummingbird/125683/5 "2002-08-26T22:13:23Z")
_shudder_
I’m not normally squeamish about bugs and such, but those things are freaky! I encountered one once. I didn’t know what it was, but it was scary looking. Fortunately, I had my trusty swatting broom in hand. (Actually, I thought it was a giant bee or something. Probably would have spared it had it identified itself as a moth.)