Butterfly Wrangler

Is is a bird or a bug?  

Meet Hemaris thysbe - the Hummingbird Moth - sometimes called the Hawk Moth.  At least I think that is what it is.  It wouldn't stop and hold still for a picture so all I know for sure is that it is definitely an iteration of Hummingbird Moth.

This is a daytime flying moth that resembles a hummingbird as it flies rapidly between plants and hovers to feed over tubular flowers.  In the Old World, there are several co-evolved species of hummingbird moths. Some of these species are closely related and all belong to the same genus, Hemaris.

You can learn more about this fascinating insect via this PBS Special Here.

This is a fun insect we have here at the Butterfly Ranch.  From a walk last weekend I captured this short video clip of a Hummingbird Moth feeding on Joe Pye Weed.  The cowbells you hear in the background are the bells on the girl's collars.  They're wrangling and ranching butterflies too...

 

Prairie Flowers And a Bonus

The prairie flowers are outstanding this year.  With a prescribed burn in the works for this fall I cannot wait until next year.

Here's a shot of the grassland looking northeast.

And dang if I didn't get a picture of a couple of hummingbird moths sipping nectar from the bergamot.

It's a rare-enough sight to see these curious flying insects.  That darn delay feature on the iPhone camera is plenty of opportunity to miss a rare shot.  Arghhh.

Also called a hawk moth or sphinx moth they belong to the Sphingidae family and are so-named as a consequence of their hovering flight patterns.  Here's some YouTube video...