need help identifying moth/hummingbird?

[MEM]

I wasn't sure where to put this, since it happened in the garden, I'm hoping it's in the right place.

This evening when I was helping my landlady take down a ladder, there was a bizarre moth(?) flying around the flowers. At least we think it's a moth...
If you took a brown and red moth, and crossed it with a hummingbird, you'd get this thing.
It had a long sucker thing like a hummingbird and was hovering over each flower gathering nector and it moved like a hummingbird, but was pretty small for a hummingbird, and more bug shaped. After watching it for a few minutes, we decided that it was definately an insect and not a bird.
...Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera ready...so I'm sorry for the vague description...
Sooo, does anyone have idea of what the heck was in the garden?

[Ludi]

Yes! A hawkmoth! Very cool.

Some kinds lay eggs on tomatoes, and make the enormous green caterpillars we all love to hate.

[MEM]

neat!
The boy did put an enormous green caterpillar on me earlier that day, I wonder if it was related....

[SallyK]

MEM, I've seen those before too! Aren't they a sight to see!?! The ones I saw were similar to the first picture Ludi posted. So cool!

[MEM]

Yeah! The one I saw was pretty similar to the one in the first picture. I never knew that something like that existed in Minnesota!