It looked like one, but more importantly acted like one. WTH!
I had taken the bus to the doctor in Remscheid and was browsing the sidewalk display of a flowershop when I saw it. It flew in and hovered over a primose and extended a proboscis almost as long as its 1 inch body into the flower, and drank, while hovering. What bug does that?
I'm happy to find out they are called Hummingbird Moths, and they confuse people the world over, as well as confusing their predators by mimicking birds. (Check out the photos, they show exactly what I saw today.)
I wanted to stop the passersby and say, "HEY, check this out!" but it's Germany and you just don't do that.
He was silvery, furry, and his wings were doing that helicopter thing. How is it I've never seen one before, when I live out here in BFE?
Here is a video showing you some American samples:
You all know about my insect phobia, so it wasn't any different when the fake bird finally flew off, dodging my face in the process. Get it away!
Recently I've been pondering insect phobia.
J said he had a dream last night that a spider was making a screeching noise. I wonder if spiders would be either more or less terrifying if they made noise. For one, you might hear them and have a chance to run. Their silence though is awful. J asked me what sound Shelob made and I know it too well.
On the Internet people wonder how blind people can tell if there is a spider in their cereal.
This is dumb. Blind people cannot be scared of spiders. Spiders are horrifying because of how they look/move. If you've never seen a spider, there's no way you could fear one. It might touch your arm and you'd think, "What is that soft tickling? Some animal? Yah, probably. Oh well." No, you need vision to be scared of spiders.
Then again you do not need vision to be afraid of that species of octopus that hunts on land. No, you touch that and you're done.
5 comments:
I would love to see a hummingbird moth!
I had to check the date of your post? Not April Fool's Day? Hmmm.
The octopus thing. Do you know about the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus?
https://bit.ly/2nlo5Un
I don't know what to say...:)
I love those guys, I see them occasionally. But I love most insects and crawlies, fascinating, alien creature.
But I am sad you have no hummingbirds. Watching them chase each other, quarrel and fight over my feeders is a joy on a sunny day.
Spiders are one of those phobias that are actually instinctual. For example, people with spider phobias? Prevalent, despite how few poisonous spiders we come into contact with.
Electrocution phobias? Virtually nonexistent, despite the fear.
All four of my children had an instinctive screaming fear of touchign spiders I had to work them through - it's built into their DNA.
So I surmise that blind people would be inherently squicked out by spiders.
On a total side note:
My property is having some kind of ground spider infestation - tiny walking ground spiders. Everywhere I step on the bottom part of the pasture, they scurry away. It's like bioluminescence, but with 8 legs.
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