Some moments stick with you, even years later. One of those moments for me was born from the time I spent in my cozy 1-bedroom cottage in Santa Barbara. It was a charming little space, with a back porch that looked out onto a lattice entwined with vibrant morning glory vines. For eight years, I watched hummingbirds flit and dart around the flowers, sipping nectar and bringing life to the garden. But it wasn’t until my final year there that something truly magical happened.
It was late summer, edging into fall, when I first noticed what I thought were hummingbirds zipping around the morning glory—but something was off. These “hummingbirds” weren’t coming during the day, as they always had. They were swarming at twilight, just after sunset. At first, I thought I was imagining it. But it kept happening night after night. Curious, I turned to the internet for answers, and what I found blew me away.
These weren’t hummingbirds at all—they were hummingbird hawk-moths! I had no idea such creatures existed. With their rapid wingbeats and long proboscis, they mimicked the hummingbirds so convincingly that I hadn’t thought to question it. Yet there they were, working the night shift, drinking nectar from the same flowers that their daytime counterparts favored.
This discovery led me down a rabbit hole of research about both hummingbirds and hummingbird hawk-moths. I was fascinated by the parallels between the two species. Did you know that hummingbird hawk-moths are capable of hovering in place just like hummingbirds? And that their wings can beat up to 85 times per second? Watching them felt like witnessing a miracle of evolution right on my back porch.
Hummingbirds, of course, are no less remarkable. With their iridescent feathers and ability to fly backward, they’re nature’s tiny acrobats. They’re also fiercely territorial, which I learned watching them fight each other off from their favorite flowers. Yet despite their feisty nature, there’s something undeniably magical about their presence. They’ve been a symbol of joy and beauty in cultures around the world, and now I understand why.
This story and my love for these creatures inspired a piece of artwork I call “Hawk-moth & the Hibiscus” It captures the moment of connection between the two worlds—the day and the night, the familiar and the mysterious. The hummingbird hawk-moth drinks from a vibrant hibiscus bloom, a nod to the endless cycle of life that plays out in nature if we only take the time to notice it.
I hope this piece resonates with you as much as the real-life moment resonated with me. Nature has a way of surprising us when we least expect it, reminding us of the beauty that exists in even the smallest details.
