Thursday, September 20, 2007

Hummingbird Moth - an unwelcome guest

One recent Saturday afternoon as Coop and I were relaxing on the patio, we saw the most interesting thing. Until then, I had heard of the Hummingbird Moth, but had never actually seen one up close and in person.

We enjoyed watching this moth hum about and feed all afternoon in the zinnias. It was quite fascinating. Coop even argued for a short while that it was a baby hummingbird. It measured maybe an inch in length. The distinction, I pointed out, were the antennae and the legs, neither of which were hummingbirdish.

I was able to capture a few photos as it darted amongst the flowers.

Since my curiosity was peaked, I searched the internet to learn just exactly what this interesting moth originated from. To my dismay, the darn thing is the result of the destructive tomato horn worm…an unwelcome guest in any form. There are many types of hummingbird moths I’ve since learned. This one is particular is called a Hummingbird Clearwing or Hemaris Thysbe to be precise.

1 comment:

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