
Time for whichever drink of your choice! This hawk moth picked the nectar from a butterfly bush. There was a lot of activity on this bush, including multiple snowberry clearwings and hummingbird clearwings (both of which are also sphinx moths). It was a glorious sight, but this was the only non-faker (the others are bumblebee/hummingbird mimics). I’m too lazy to identify it right now, but I kind of hope it is a Gallium Sphinx moth, the caterpillars of which I seem to find every so often in the neighborhood, usually crossing a street. Hopefully, we’ve survived the week (this post along with most on my site are scheduled in advance); wishing a happy weekend to all.
(P.s. Yes, your lying eyes aren’t lying: this photo does not have optimal focus on the subject. I don’t mind the wings blurring, gives a sense of how these moths flutter and hover at the flowers’ edges, but it was somewhat difficult to get the body in focus with the unpredictable movement of the moth as it went from little flower to little flower. Also, note that this was not a true macro in the sense of 1:1 ratio of sensor to subject. Can’t remember which lens I used, probably my old 35-70mm reversed (thanks, UJ!) but maybe not.)