Subject: Can you help me identify a fascinating insect I saw?

I'm hoping someone can help me identify a fascinating "what I believe to be an insect" that I saw recently at a friend's house. Here's what I saw: a small creature hovering around and feeding on a miniature lilac flower; it had a black ovoid body about 1 inch to 1 and a half inch long and about 3/8 inch in diameter, with a small fan-tail at the posterior; on the lower quadrant of the body were two horizontal yellow stripes; it appeared to have six legs, antennae, and a long snout it used to get into the tiny flowers; it's wings flapped constantly and it hovered around the flowers like a hummingbird -- in fact, some people who saw it thought it was some kind of miniature hummingbird. I definitely saw insect-like legs. There were several of these on these lilac bushes. None of us had ever seen anything like it. The homeowner said she had seen them once before, several years ago, but not since then. I'd really appreciate it if someone can help me out -- oh, by the way, this was in a rural area just outside of Minneapolis. Thanks!

Re: Can you help me identify a fascinating insect I saw?