Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Waiting for rain

A Hummingbird Clearwing moth nectered in the butterfly bush;

as did a Snowberry Clearwing moth.



A Black Swallowtail, a Giant and a Tiger were also
finding sweet nectar in the Butterfly Bush.


Monarchs, Viceroys and Sulphurs are also out feeding.
Rain is in the forecast.
The bugs tell me it is on the way.

6 comments:

Cheryl said...

Sherry....I love the clearwings....I find them fascinating......
apparently we do have similar here but not where I live....

We have rain on and off for the last few days.....it has been windy today.....but it is not cold, in fact quite mild.....

Do you need some rain??? or is this one of your bad storms......

Q said...

Dear Cheryl,
I also am thrilled with the moths. Seeing both of them on the butterfly bush was fun! They look similiar but once you hav ethem side by side it is easy to see the difference.
We could use some rain. There is the tropical storm Fay on the East Coast. That is very far from me.
The forecast is for rain showers. I am looking forard to them. I find when it is going to rain the birds and bugs are feeding more.
The birds were at the feeders until Cooper's Hawk scattered them!
Sherry

Maria said...

This is your Kansas City neighbor. :-) On Monday, when you had your praying mantis visiting you, I did too-a little guy on the front porch screen but who wanted to stay put. It's Wednesday and he (she?) is still on the porch screen. This is what I imagine I'm hearing from him/her first thing in the morning--"Hi, Leave me alone." Ha ha ha. I also had a visit from a hummingbird and I think a hummingbird moth, not a clearwing ( I have not been able to identify it yet) but it certainly did not have the colors you have in that first photo. Gorgeous!

I have got to get a better camera because it certainly helps with documenting what you have going on in your backyard when you're busy taking a photo safari there. But until then, I can look at your blog and see some of the insects that share both our yards/area of the world. :-)

Maria

Q said...

Dear Maria,
I bet your mantis is a female. She is most likely looking for a male!
I do like them so very much.
The Hummingbird moths are greenish and red while the clearwings are more brown and yellow...lots of different spinx moths in our area. I keep hoping to see more yet this season.
I do wish so for a macro lens. I could take more pictures!
Sherry

Maria said...

Sherry-you don't have a macro lens????? Now I'm even more impressed.

I'm not sure what my moth was. it was hefty like a sphinx moth and certainly could move like one but it was a dark grey with a large light grey or white band on its wings. I took a picture but it's a blurry mess.

However, I was very proud of myself for photographing and identifying an ailanthus webworm moth but after capturing so many great shots, I discovered it was dead. Oh well, it still was a pretty little thing. :-)

I wonder what you'll find in your garden today...:-)

Q said...

Dear Maria,
I opened my Butterflies and Moths Of Missouri book searching for a dark gray Sphinx, did not see one.
It is exciting when you do id a bug...I seem to always know the bugs name too afterwards.
The macro lens is on my list...has been for over a year now...
I might have to just go to the camera shop and buy it.
So fun chatting with you.
Maybe one of these days we could have lunch??? We could talk about bugs and turtles.
Sherry