What Az. insect flies and eats like a hummingbird and looks like a zebra?

Question

This insect is 2-4" long in body. The head is long and pointed with vertical stripes and the rest of the body has circular stripes and looks much like a moth. It consumes nectar.

Answer 1

Many hawk moths and clear-wing moths superficially resemble hummingbirds. Here is a fantastic page with many pictures that you can use to compare with the one you saw.

Hope this helps!

http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=hummingbird+moth

Answer 2

Carnivores don't eat nectar, so bees, wasps, mantids, roach, ants, other hunters, moth, since it looks like a moth, are out. That leaves butterfly, beetle. But a hover moth has wings like a humming bird.. oh well.

Answer 3

it was probably a hawk-moth family Sphingidae. i can't tell you what species but try searching under the family name and you might find a picture of the kind you saw. they are reaaly cool, and some get quite large.