“In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.” -Aristotle

All God's Creatures.

(Pictured above, the Bee Hummingbird)

Part of the healing process involves sleep and I gave in to much needed naps every afternoon. I awoke one warm afternoon to the sound of tiny snoring. The noise was too small to be one of the dogs and it seemed to be coming from inside my closet. One of the closet sliding doors was ajar, so I crept over and peeked inside. A gray tabby cat was curled up in the corner, sound asleep, snoring away. It looked a lot like the cat of dog-chasing fame from across the alley. I had recently installed a cat door in the kitchen window overlooking the deck, so the cat must have come in that way. The memory of the cat snarling and clawing as it chased a large dog came to mind. Rather than wake it, I left it alone. It could leave the same way it came in, when ready.

A little while later four dirt-encrusted kids arrived from next door and asked if I had seen their cat named Squirrel. They described the cat and it sounded like the one asleep in my closet. I didn’t want them scattering through the house poking into things, so I told them I would send him their way if he showed up. Checking the closet again after they left, the gray tabby was gone. I searched everywhere but there was no sign. Either he found a better hidey hole when he heard the kids or disappeared out the cat door.  He seemed to be avoiding the dusty gang and I wondered what kind of mischief they were planning to inflict on the little feline. If we pay attention, animals speak volumes through their behavior and body language.

Out on the deck while looking for signs of “Squirrel” I watched a parade of yellow school busses trundle down the hill towards the Bible camp. There must have been twenty. More arrived during the afternoon. That evening at the Bible Camp several speakers took to the microphone. The sound settled over the town, the words unclear. It continued into the night and I fell asleep to the echoing microphone.  Later I was awakened by the low humming sound of hundreds of human voices speaking in unison, yet unintelligible. Their prayers bounced off the canyon walls and wafted up the river, the pitch rising and falling like waves. It sounded eerie in the dark stillness of the night.

The next morning several small clusters of young people began making their way up the hill from the Bible Camp. One group stopped at my door and cheerfully handed me “Good News” leaflets and religious tracts. I thanked them and they moved on to the next house. All day the battalion spread through the town. They were earnest in their mission, young detachments armed with good news, eager to share it. As each cadre stopped at my door, we chatted briefly. They told me they had come from Canada by bus. I wished them well.

Late that afternoon one last group of stragglers found their way to my door. I had already amassed quite a collection of leaflets, so I thanked them said I had plenty. I told them that indeed, not only had I been “saved,” I was twice baptized, attended church, and my brother was an ordained minister.

“There are churches, here?” asked one young woman, surprised.

“Why yes,” I answered and began naming some of those nearby.

“And people GO there?” She looked stunned.

I had to admit there was one bar for every church in the area.

I asked if they wanted to take some of my tracts, since I didn’t need so many. They said to keep them and give them to friends.

As I stood there watching them walk up the hill, I heard a buzzing sound and saw a small object zip towards me, stop two feet in front of me and hover.

We regarded each other. 

It looked like a tiny black and yellow striped hummingbird about the size of a walnut. Rather than feathers, it was covered in thick fur. Its beating wings were a blur. I did not feel fear, just curiosity. Standing still, I waited to see what it would do.  It stayed facing me, then zipped downward in a straight line to my ankles, back up to chest level, buzzed sideways to my left, and then to my right, tracing a huge cross over my body. It was scanning me.  Curiosity satisfied, it flew off as quickly as it came, leaving me puzzled at what I had just witnessed.

(Bumblebee Moth)

It looked like a large unarticulated black and yellow bee, but hovered like a hummingbird. I was intrigued and had to find out more about this little creature. Nicknaming it the “Humbee,” I decided to ask around and see if anyone else had ever seen something like it. No one I asked seemed to know and some looked at me like I had grown an extra nose.

“No,” I told them. “I hadn’t been drinking when I saw this thing.”

The internet was still new and my search there was fruitless. After several visits to the library, I learned that a Bee Hummingbird is the smallest known bird, but its habitat is Cuba and none had been sighted this far north.  And the colors were wrong. The most likely suspect was either a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth or a Bumblebee Moth.

(Clearwing Moth)

They are also called hawk moths, sphinx moths, bee moths, and bee-hawk moths. Hummingbird moths can be mistaken for hummingbirds. There are more than 1,200 species of these moths worldwide, and roughly 125 of them are in North America. They flap their wings almost as fast as a hummingbird and they not only look and act like hummingbirds, but make the similar humming sound.

The Hummingbird moth’s body is one to two inches long and their wingspan is around 1.6-1.8 inches. They have extremely strong wings, similar to hummingbirds, are agile fliers that can hover, fly sideways, and fly backward just like hummingbirds. They also sip nectar from flowers while hovering over them.

The female likes to lay her eggs in honeysuckle and I had one in my yard. The tiny eggs hatch in about eight days and the green caterpillar eats its way to being fully grown in 20 days.

In the caterpillar stage, they are called hornworms. The pupae is enveloped in a brown cocoon resembling a dried brown leaf. The hummingbird moth emerges after about two weeks. How easily these little cocoons could be raked up in a pile of leaves and dumped in a plastic bag!

Too often we miss witnessing the little miracles around us every day because we are so busy being wrapped up in our own bubblegum!