Showing posts with label moths. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moths. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Garden visitors

On my way back into the house after taking the dogs for their lunch-time stroll, I spotted some beautiful butterflies on the butterfly bush by the back door.

I'm pretty sure this one is a red-spotted purple. I love the iridescent blue coloring.


And this one is an Eastern tiger swallowtail.


This is my new desktop background. So peaceful!

And as I was snapping away at the butterflies, another visitor dropped by.

This is a sphinx moth called a hummingbird clearwing (scientific name Hemaris thysbe).

I also caught one quite by accident last summer, but I am not sure if it is a thysbe or a diffinis. According to my taxonomy research, the diffinis has black legs, which is what I see here, but I only got this one shot, so I can't be sure. The wings also seem to have less of an outer margin. If it is a diffinis, the common name is snowberry clearwing.


And, for Nancy, a video clip of today's visitors...