White-lined Sphinx and the Foxglove Flowers

Mrsroadrunner Photography | White-lined Sphinx and the Foxglove Flowers




Meet the White-lined Sphinx. I call them hummingbird moths, always have and wrong or not I can remember this name quite easily ha!



I was already in the middle of my outside chores when this moth showed up at these Foxglove flowers in this part of the garden and it seamed to make a difference due to how close the White-lined Sphinx let me get? It already new I was out there....



Along with the hummingbirds, these White-lined Sphinx moths also like the Foxglove flowers. The difference in these is, they do not make that humming sound. Though big enough to catch the eye.



Only down side to having such things here in our garden, along with butterflies is they do eat some of our plants,fruit, veggies etc.. when they are young. I think it is worth the photographs and enjoyment we get watching them?





I made another blog with this species , though on another flower. The link if you want to look at those photographs is White-Lined Sphinx or Hawk Moth



The Foxglove Flower there is pretty easy to grow. If you do choose to grow this flower make sure you contain it somehow if it grows where you live as well as it grows here! Like every living thing, it will take over the world if it is allowed to and you do not want anything such as puppies, kitten, livestock thinking it is a meal. It is ONLY for the flowers to attract the wildlife like this White-lined Sphinx moth, and bumblebees really enjoy this flower!



The series of photographs of this White-lined Sphinx moth feeding on this patch of foxglove flower is pretty large so I will leave it at these photographs. I did show another photograph there on twitter of a photograph of one of these flying to the Foxglove flowers as it went further away , giving a good example of the size to the flowers.

Thank you for checking out this series of shots of this day of the White-lined Sphinx moth and the Foxglove Flowers!

White-lined Sphinx or Hawk Moth

Mrsroadrunner Photography | White-lined Sphinx or Hawk Moth




Meet the Sphinx Moth or if you prefer the Hawk Moth or as I call it the "Hummingbird Moth", wrong or not that is just what I call it. This is just one of 1,450 species and this is the species that tend to visit our garden as well as at times comes inside the house to get put back outside. The moth above is in flight, hovering as hummingbirds do! Why I call them the "hummingbird moth", for it is easy for me to remember.

I have witnessed a hummingbird attacking one of these , due to thinking it was another hummingbird perhaps?? Hummers are very territorial as many of us bird watchers can testify to!



If you notice the hummingbird moths or um White-lined Sphinx like the Zinnia Flowers! I notice if you move slow as of no threat these moths do allow you pretty close to them. This of course comes in handy if you say, want photographs of them?



Hovering as they do, I get quite a few shots of them doing just that! They are quite big for a moth! 2" to 3" - 3" to 4". For instance the Rufous hummers (Hummingbird), are 3"-4" inches. So you can imagine why the hummingbird attacked the moth outside that I watched here.



Guy my other half has been warned about the caterpillar. Guy was told to kill them on site if he wants any tomatoes. I personally can not see doing this at this point. We just do not have reason to. However, if say the local farmers were having a infestation and asked folks to help them.... who knows? To my understanding and observations we do not have tomato farms here. We do have the apple trees, however we have the woodpeckers, and other birds who keep the insects in check. See a post I did about a woodpecker catching his dinner I photographed on one of my walks here. The woodpeckers do help out with the bugs !

I have put in four o-clocks in 2014 , I read that this is one of the plants they like to feed on? I had not seen this activity, though you never know what the future may hold?  I believe without going into my other hard drive of getting this moth feeding on the Ozark teardrop. Which of course is just another of the primrose species and one that I had to control in 2014 due to establishing itself in another part of the garden and getting over 6' tall, a good 3' in circumference with many blossoms and seeds! Seeds of course had to be destroyed before they were mature. Some of my flowers I do this with daily, or every other day only because they will try and take over the world.

I just find the moth itself does more good here pollinating then the caterpillars eat, though I feel this way about many of the butterflies I have established here as well. Ying Yang, everything has to eat.

I see as I look at the computer clock I have another 45 minutes before the walking dead is on, so perhaps I will find something else to write about? I found myself tossing one blog I wrote that just was not good enough in my eyes to share with you all.

Being asked if I am still taking photographs earlier today..... Am I still breathing? HAHA! Rest assured I am still doing what I do! Though the outside gardens are done for the winter.

Thank you for coming by, checking out my little write up here and of course my photography! More photographs of these moths and I do have more photographs to add to the websites.

http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Hyles-lineata

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/rufous_hummingbird/lifehistory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyles_lineata