My interest now has been directed at our flowers and the critters attracted to the blossoms. The cone flowers are in bloom now. I made this photo during some "play time" with my cell phone. When I opened it in my computer, I discovered a big bumblebee homing in on the closest flower. Bees do love them. But, any bee finds them attractive, like the honey bee seen below.
In June, I added a pair of (sterile) Butterfly Bushes with some fear. Years ago, I was unsuccessful with one. These two seem to be flourishing as evidenced by their attracting namesake butterflies like this little Skipper.
By far, bee balm -Monarda- is our biggest draw. The native variety, Monarda fistulosa, is popular with of the rrun-of-the-mill insects like bumblebees and honey bees.
But, I have been playing around before introducing the most spectacular visitor that we enjoy each summer on M. fistulosa and yellow phlox. It is a clearwing sphinx moth, Hemaris thysbe. It is commonly called a hummingbird moth. We usually only see a few of these in a summer, but yesterday I am sure I saw at least three. One was missing an antenna and another was slightly less reddish. Here are my best images.
Note in the final image how crystal clear the wing panels are, appropriate for being a clearwing.
It requires a lot of restraint not to show another seven images. The hummingbird moth just creates huge enthusiasm.
I hope this will alert some viewers to look around their area for these fascinating summer visitors.
Paul Schmitt
Note: For more about these moths, see:
https://www.massaudubon.org/learn/nature-wildlife/insects-arachnids/hummingbird-moth
