I was sure that I had seen a hummingbird on the lavender bush outside the office....
Since that would not only be the wrong country, but also the wrong continent, (humming birds are only found in the Americas) .... I had to go out with the camera to look closer.
This Humming-Bird Hawk Moth (macroglossum stellatarum- a species of Sphingidae) is an amazing insect, and I doubt I’m the only one who has mistaken it for a humming bird...
It beasts its wings so fast that they are just a blur- hard to capture on camera and it can feed while hovering, like a hummingbird, by uncoiling its very long proboscis. The speed of the wings even make the humming sound .
Unusually for a moth it flies during bright sunshine, as well as at dawn and dusk. Obviously its a fan of lavender!
What a great photograph!
ReplyDeleteI saw a very tiny humming bird feed off a bloom on a hilltop in Kenya. I was sat there static and camouflaged on lookout during a military exercise in 2011. On another morning just after sunrise whilst sat on a hillside, a huge eagle landed on a dead tree next to my head....utterly amazing. These were a fraction of the wild life i saw whilst patrolling silently throw the bush...that part of the world is amazing!
ReplyDeletethrow = through :)
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