[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to freaky fauna Friday, where every Friday we take a little time, explore some of the freaks of nature from around the planet, we cherish so deeply, so please jump aboard and let's explore the wilds together.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's good to be back.
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back to freaky fauna Friday.
[SPEAKER_01]: I am the great and peaceful
[SPEAKER_01]: Abby Webb, an amazing listener.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: Offered to right about one of her favorite animals.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, okay.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Abby.
[SPEAKER_02]: The hummingbird moth.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, hummingbird moth.
[SPEAKER_01]: Mm-hmm.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: So her title is, is the bird or an insect?
[SPEAKER_02]: That's what I was gonna ask.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we have these around.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we have these in thanks moths.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, so it's, you just answered the question.
[SPEAKER_01]: What?
[SPEAKER_02]: It's an insect.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: Gotcha.
[SPEAKER_01]: But when you see them flying, people do mistake them for homing birds.
[SPEAKER_01]: But okay, like I'll tell you, they move just like homing birds.
[SPEAKER_01]: They move so fast too.
[SPEAKER_02]: Huh.
[SPEAKER_02]: That you're just like, was that a homing bird?
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, homing birds are pretty dang fast.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the homing bird month is in the family.
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, and I believe Abby is an exterminator.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not mistaken, so she worked a lot with insects.
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, so I'm apologizing for the mis, uh, scientific names.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's very few scientific names.
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't work with them in fish and amphibians.
[SPEAKER_02]: You had no idea.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, that's like all of them for me except for maybe something diddy Elvis.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you remember?
[SPEAKER_02]: I know it's a possum.
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't remember the beginning Virginia and it's yeah, there we go And start a whole fill their sick tannicus.
[SPEAKER_02]: I know that one.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean Calva.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, that's a bow fan I know that one as a pincer transbontanis a Beaver no dang it white sturgeon.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, dang it.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay That was close.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, they're both like water.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah I'm trying to think of another one four year that I knew the full size of a name
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not very good at it.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's literally just committed to the ones to memory.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I know.
[SPEAKER_01]: And load a load of no idea for a bit.
[SPEAKER_02]: Ah, yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: But it never gets that a Burbit.
[SPEAKER_02]: I would even guess a Burbit to begin with.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's because it's the only fresh water cod.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's like load a load.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's one of those, which it's own like Salamander Salamander Salamander.
[SPEAKER_02]: I know that one.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well fire Salamander's her Salamandra Salamandra.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then fire a sound mandra, the speech he's typing as a bunch of subspecies and sound mandra, sound mandra.
[SPEAKER_01]: Back to hummingbird bots.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are actually many different types of hummingbird moss that live in the United States in Canada.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's tons and tons of scientific names.
[SPEAKER_01]: hummingbird clear wing is Hermades a thia day.
[SPEAKER_01]: It has red, yellow, and green fuzzy hairs making it look like a little hummingbird.
[SPEAKER_01]: The wings are transparent windows.
[SPEAKER_01]: where there are no scales and they are boarded by brown.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're about one and a half to two and a half inches across.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I mean, small, but hunting bird size.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're wide range and habitat from Alaska to Canada or through Canada all the way down into Florida.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, so they'll hold the North American continent.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: is most commonly found, though, east of the Mississippi River.
[SPEAKER_02]: Hmm, okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's this first one.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is probably the one we see the most.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I guess here in Ohio.
[SPEAKER_02]: Right, because we are, in fact, east of the Mississippi River.
[SPEAKER_02]: Should be called the Ohio River, by the way.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is no berry clear wing.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's golden yellow with yellow and black stripes, which make it very much resemble that of a bumblebee.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I've seen this one too, but I may be mistaken.
[SPEAKER_01]: uh they disguise keeps them safe from predators.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's transparent wings are bordered by black and then wings spans about one and a quarter inches to two inches, with then they always have black legs.
[SPEAKER_01]: They are commonly found east of the continental divide.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I'm trying to remember.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what is you remember what it's called?
[SPEAKER_01]: with a animal mimics another animal.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
[SPEAKER_01]: I already agree.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's it's a defensive mimicry.
[SPEAKER_02]: Gotcha.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are other words for it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But defensive mimicry is you're looking like a dangerous animal.
[SPEAKER_02]: Gotcha.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's another word like a fancier word for it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm trying to remember, but it's all it's keeping my mind.
[SPEAKER_01]: Communion.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, but the gang are coral snakes and King snakes are an example.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's almost like, no, never mind.
[SPEAKER_02]: No, it's not.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I know what you're saying.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's another me too.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's another word for it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But defense of Bimmocrezoid, I always learn to ask.
[SPEAKER_01]: As you're mimicking a dangerous animal.
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
[SPEAKER_01]: White-lined, sphinx-moth.
[SPEAKER_01]: Alayaz.
[SPEAKER_01]: Italy at Chica.
[SPEAKER_01]: The most active in late afternoon until dusk, but we'll also fly at night.
[SPEAKER_01]: Two to their name, they have white bands on their wings.
[SPEAKER_01]: Their wings spins about two and a half to three and three-fourths inches wide.
[SPEAKER_01]: Very large.
[SPEAKER_02]: Those are bigger than that.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's like other counterparts.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's bigger than some homing birds.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even though their wings are longer, they still hover when feeding rather than landing on a blossom.
[SPEAKER_01]: They've been found throughout the U.S. in Southern Canada.
[SPEAKER_01]: The next one is the slender clear wing looks much the same to the hummingbird clearing, but always has red legs, so the hummingbird clearing has the black legs I believe okay I do have a general question about mods, so okay, are like certain moss species only not turn on some are day or no or is in and some are both.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, when I was a kid growing up, I would just thought all mods were nighttime and butterflies were the daytime ones.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's not wrong, but it is like I would say the majority of butterfly species or daytime.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, and a majority of moths species are nocturnal.
[SPEAKER_02]: As a kid, I just thought that was the difference.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are many small small species of moss that are day Arnold like those cabbage moths, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: Or is that with a crowed cabbage butterflies?
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, those are butterflies.
[SPEAKER_01]: I always thought those are moths.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, well, but there's like my theory was right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like clothes moths and stuff like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like yeah, if you go like our door at the house out in the country, right now There's probably 400 of these little tiny moths on it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I believe they're type of clothes moth.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't make our clothes out of plants anymore.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's not that big of a deal.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, the ones that get in there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: We should though.
[SPEAKER_02]: We should people.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, you're back to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're close should be edible.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: That means that they're probably not made of dangerous things chemicals and plastics.
[SPEAKER_01]: uh... where was uh... moth cinder clearing uh... one-and-a-half uh... one-and-three-force inches less common found in east coast from Virginia to Maine around the Great Lakes mostly they are called the gardeners friend their long proboscis can carry many bits of pollen from plow to flower making them prime pollinators i know your word came up and proboscis i love it
[SPEAKER_01]: They can reach even to the flowers and collect poems and transfer to other flowers to help pollinate your garden.
[SPEAKER_01]: They are preferred plants to visit your garden, which all have something in common.
[SPEAKER_01]: They all have a tubular-shaped flower, which makes it easier for the moss to feed from them.
[SPEAKER_01]: So basically what she's saying is, it's like the trumpeting flowers.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yep.
[SPEAKER_01]: So they use their long-forboscuses and they hover to get down into their kind of like a hobbing bird.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, that's the same thing.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: What is that called?
[SPEAKER_02]: Covergent evolution.
[SPEAKER_01]: There you go.
[SPEAKER_01]: Patunians, morning glories, B bomb, Pasta's, Columbines, Honey suckles, and even Primrose.
[SPEAKER_02]: Honey suckles.
[SPEAKER_02]: Or sorry, evening Primrose.
[SPEAKER_02]: Uh, invasive honey suckle.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, there's native honey suckles too.
[SPEAKER_02]: I know there is.
[SPEAKER_02]: Just the invasive are taking over.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hostes I really do like hostes or if I like if I know what those are people mistake them for Oh my gosh my one's I always eat I have a bunch of my old house.
[SPEAKER_02]: I thought they missed mixed them with levistas Pasta levista baby.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, like I'm sorry.
[SPEAKER_01]: Get must taken a lot for that
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, here's some interesting facts, these pollinators can move white lines, spring, moss can fly at the 25 to 35 miles per hour.
[SPEAKER_01]: Holy moly almost identical to hummingbird speeds.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's rude.
[SPEAKER_01]: How does that not like shred themselves?
[SPEAKER_01]: They're tough.
[SPEAKER_01]: If they have to be, uh, so they're, um, like we've already found out a lot of these are clear winged.
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't actually have scales on their wings.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's like why you don't touch butterflies and moths.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is the scales and their wings help them fly?
[SPEAKER_02]: Like that's a shiny stuff that comes off like the dust.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's their scales or micro scales.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, so they just fall off.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but it just destroyed.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's destroying their wings.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, if you pulled the scales off a silent earth and I saw them or lizard or chicken, yeah, like it's not good.
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Unlike most month hummingbird moths are extremely active during the day rather than the night You know, they can be active at night.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: I would say I've seen a lot of shrinks moths I've seen some hummingbird moths and we're was I I was in southern Illinois I believe on a survey and this like we were near an age of preserve and there was just Hundreds of them like you thought they were gonna hit you
[SPEAKER_01]: but they never did.
[SPEAKER_01]: They can fly backwards in the rain is another for you fun, in fact.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a weird, only in the rain.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, they can fly backwards, but they can still do it in the rain.
[SPEAKER_02]: So they can fly in the rain and backwards.
[SPEAKER_02]: They're just showing off.
[SPEAKER_01]: They can flap their wings up to 80 beats per second.
[SPEAKER_02]: You'd have to if you're flying that fast.
[SPEAKER_01]: They are smaller than most time-ingered species, but they are larger than most
[SPEAKER_01]: Other moths fly silent, but the rapid movements of a hummingbird moth make them have a buzzing sound, they actually do hum like a hummingbird.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's pretty cool.
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_02]: I know about these things.
[SPEAKER_02]: You've seen them.
[SPEAKER_02]: I have what probably, but I just don't know hummingbird.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it was a moth.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm maybe I've had that thought in my life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Though some have black and yellow straight similar to those of bumblebees, they do not sting or bite.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have no danger to people at all.
[SPEAKER_01]: The difference between hummingbird moths and our, sorry, hummingbirds and hummingbird moths.
[SPEAKER_01]: Instead of a stiff beak, hummingbird moths have a flexible, hollow, tongue-like tube called a proboscis, that they curl up when it's not used.
[SPEAKER_01]: Somebody will add a butterflies and other moths.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you're trying to decide if it's a hummingbird moth or a hummingbird,
[SPEAKER_02]: What?
[SPEAKER_02]: Just that in one fact.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hummingbird Moss have three pairs of tiny legs while Hummingbirds just have the one pair.
[SPEAKER_01]: They also have two small antenna on top of their head.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hummingbirds have no protrusions.
[SPEAKER_01]: True.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hummingbird Moss have four wings instead of two.
[SPEAKER_01]: But when you really focus on first, I can see the double pair of wings.
[SPEAKER_02]: Gotcha.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like a butterfly.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, they're all very similar.
[SPEAKER_01]: How many were most had, all right, rather, they're about the half the size of hummingbirds most a time.
[SPEAKER_01]: While they enjoy the same type of flowers, hummingbirds do, nectar is their only food source.
[SPEAKER_01]: hummingbirds also eat small insects and other proteins.
[SPEAKER_02]: So these guys only nectar.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't have a video of hummingbird eating like a tiny snake.
[SPEAKER_01]: What?
[SPEAKER_01]: Really?
[SPEAKER_01]: They're family group is hummingbirds.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll do an episode of hummingbirds too.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're family groups really odd and it's got some really crazy predators in it like the kingfisher's.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_02]: Why may I make sense, though, that they're a little bigger, but hummingbirds, oh, come on.
[SPEAKER_01]: The buy of the hummingbird moth is mostly covered in fuzzy hair, but hummingbirds are covered in feathers.
[SPEAKER_01]: Basically, when you're looking at them, they just look fluffier.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: They are absolutely amazing creatures, and they are really cool to watch floating around.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can hear their audible hum coming from and buzzing around.
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't really pay any attention to people being around them, so you can normally stand by really close and watch them for a solid few minutes before they take off.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to flower there eating from.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, is it really, really neat?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so thank you, Abby.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, Abby.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thanks for introducing me to the hummingbird moth.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're really cool.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have them around when we start putting in pollinator gardens.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure they'll start showing up more.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hopefully.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like at the property, we've already seen decay brown snakes, which are really rare in our part of Ohio.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm trying to remember, I've gotten two species of gardener's snake.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been taking pictures of everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: Cool.
[SPEAKER_01]: As we find it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, we got metovols.
[SPEAKER_01]: I caught a meadow over the other day.
[SPEAKER_02]: A bowl.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: What if that's the same bowls that grease gets up around the house every now and then?
[SPEAKER_01]: Probably.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: Uh, bowls and bowls.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's meadow bowls and then there's like swamp bowls.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: Which are the rare ones.
[SPEAKER_02]: Swamp ones.
[SPEAKER_02]: Mm-hmm.
[SPEAKER_01]: bowls have black teeth.
[SPEAKER_02]: See, we can get a bit by teeth.
[SPEAKER_02]: Didn't know that.
[SPEAKER_01]: They can tell a bowl skull from other like little rodents.
[SPEAKER_02]: Uh, okay.
[SPEAKER_02]: Give away.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's really black.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's like obsidian.
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's been the hangar-dmoth.
[SPEAKER_01]: neat.
[SPEAKER_01]: So guys, plant your pollinator gardens, and this is definitely one to look out for.
[SPEAKER_02]: See if you can attract some to your neck of the woods.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have been the great and peaceful mystery.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I've been Jay.
[SPEAKER_01]: Got you, actually guys.
[SPEAKER_02]: Bye.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for listening to Freaky Fat on the Friday.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you want to help the podcast grow, remember to share and give it a five-star review.