giant bug or animal?

Question

ok so i was at a friends house and it was night time.. and there was this giant grey flying animal/insect i dont think it was a bat because of its wingspan and because how fast the things wings moved.. after it got done flying around us it went into a flower the body of it was about 5 to 6 inches

Answer 1

Heheh, you probably got a sphinx moth. You probably don't care, but they are of the family Sphingidae. Their caterpillars are hornworms, one of the species being the tomato hornworm most people know about. The adults in North America can have wingspans that large, but that's the limit. They nectar on large flowers, and beat their wings like hummingbirds. You might have seen an ash, or possibly Great ash sphinx.

Here's a picture of a white lined sphinx, a day flier, (Probably not what you saw) nectaring at small flowers.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/casaverdesol/129554447/

Answer 2

Bugs are indeed animals - so it was likely an animal. I am not aware of any plants that are able to efficiently utilize flapping flight for locomotion.

But otherwise, there's not really enough information to go by to determine if it was an insect, bird, or mammal.

It could very well have been a bat. It also could have been a large moth, beetle or giant water bug.

Answer 3

Might have been a moth. depending on where you live, some of them can get really large.

Answer 4

I'd put my money on one of the larger hawk/sphinx moths.

Answer 5

Probably an animal with rabies. You should get tested if you were bitten.

Answer 6

Bats come in different sizes, and that was probably what it was.
May God bless you.

Answer 7

I think it was a humming bird.