It's a Bird, It's a Plane...!

It's a Hawk-Moth!

     Like a hummingbird, but with antennae and a proboscis, this magnificent moth came in at speed, behaving like a hummingbird, darting around the garden and fluttering its wings at a furious pace. Stephanie, faster and better every day with the camera, got this wonderful shot of the hawk-moth, this one the aptly named White-Lined Sphinx. The books say it has a wide range, and is fairly common, but we have never heard of them, let alone seen one, so it made for an exciting day in the garden. Amazing little creature!
     On the more mundane side of new visitors, we were briefly excited to have our first caterpillar on the milkweed. That's better than aphids, but research determined that this caterpillar eats everything, and then turns into a boring little brown moth of no repute. We thanked it for coming and then gently moved it away to the greenery lining the hill. In our next post, however, we will have a male and female tiger swallowtail having lunch together in the garden, and looking like they like each other. Stay tuned, romance fans.