Visitor to my yard today

I haven't been in for a while but thought you might enjoy this gorgeous Hummingbird Hawk Moth that took a fancy to my Salvia today. Isn't he lovely! He wasn't very good at staying still, but his wings had red and black stripes on them.

And just look what he could do with his proboscis!!

I think it is the most used word on Dave's so forgive me but .... WOW !!! Those are both great pictures! What a proboscis indeed!

I have to agree with angele, what great pictures!

Aren't those the neatest little animals? I used to live in the New Mexico mountains, near the Pecos river, and my Honey and I would sit out at night and watch the hawk moths come to the wildflowers on the cliffsides. Country living at its best. :)

Your salvia are beautiful. What variety are they?

Thanks for the kind words everybody.

ceceoh - it's a Salvia Gregii, I have a lot of them - every time I see a different shade I have to add to the collection!

Brown and red compliment well don't they! Has anyone ever unearthed a pupae? The proboscis curves down and attaches to it's chest. Very identifying.

Neat pictures! They look so different from the ones I have in my area.

Great photos okus. I love watching the hummingbird moths, but I have only seen them at night around here. Never in the daytime. That proboscis is really amazing, isn't it.

Thanks all. I have admired them for years but this is the first time I have had the camera handy and one has hovered in an accessible place for long enough when the light was still good enough. It was around 4.30 pm and an overcast day so he was probably having an early supper.

Amazing pictures.... I never seen such a bug like that before. I normally don't like bugs but this one is really interesting! Im gonna find the picture of this one moth I had spotted on our house... I just have to find the CD disk..maybe someone can assist me with the name?

Okie Dokie, I guess it wasn't that difficult to find the picture on the disc, after all (lol)
Here it is... I call it the "Monster Moth" (lol) The cable dude was to install two lines and I wanted to see where he was going to attach the outdoor wires at, and that's when I started to look up at the cable wires spotted the butterflly (lol) that's what I thought it was at first, being so large.... but the colors are muted....

I'll post a close up of it...maybe someone will know the name of it? "Tks"

Ok here's (it's) close up picture (lol) You know a few nights before I took this photo, I thought I had spotted a bat! Flying around at first! Becuz it was black in color but it was flying much to slow to be one.... Then it dawned on me that this is what I saw flying around! Eek!


Ps: If you view the size of the brick and then look at the size of this bug then you'll get an idea how big this thing really was!


This message was edited Apr 16, 2006 6:11 PM

Love the moths you both have shown us. We see the hummingbird moths occasionally in the summer. They love the big brug blooms outside our back door.

PaperWhiteTulip - I'm pretty sure your moth is a female Ascalapha odorata aka The Black Witch Moth. I've only seen one and had it IDes here in the Wildlife Forum. One article said it was the largest moth north of Mexico and can reach a wing span of 7 inches

http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabast/witch.html
This website is looking for sighting reports:
http://www.texasento.net/witch.htm

That is the most beautiful moth Paperwhitetulip! Thanks for the photo! I don't think I even have a picture in my butterfly book, so I'm glad to have had the chance to see one. It's spectacular!

Thats some moth Paperwhite! Isn't nature amazing!

Hello, Okus, Floridian & BillyPorter,

I can't "Thank You" enough for the information and for the replies to the photos I posted! Yes, I reckon nature is quite "AMAZING!" I am looking so forward to reading up on this aka "icky bug" (lol) just joking.. It was very amazing to see it in person and photograph it! Im also going to read up on the kewl pictures Okus took of the "Hummingbird Hawk Moth"

"Thank You" again for replying to my post!

Ps: Thanks again for taking the time to post the links and for finding out the name of this moth! Im gonna check them out "ASAP"

Oh mah gosh... Im posting part of the article I read and it's true! Re:

Known in Mexico by the Indians since Aztec times as mariposa de la muerte (butterfly of death). When there is sickness in a house and this moth enters, the sick person dies. (Hoffmann 1918) A variation on this theme heard in the lower Rio Grande Valley ...

After we moved from Illinos, to the "Rio Grande Valley" we found out my uncle was very ill, and it turns out he passed away about 3 weeks after we arrived and that is about the time I saw this bug flying in the backyard thinking it could have been a bat! Ps: My uncle lived about 2 miles from us....

"Creepy!"

Wow, I think it's interesting. A coincidence, like an owl hooting outside your house three nights in a row, but stories are stories.

Yep, re: coincidence, I reckon (lol) So, I never heard the folklore about the, owl hooting 3xs, I would really like to hear about it! Im gonna post a couple photos of critters I saw while gardening....

"I Love Geckos" (lol) use to spend my summers here in Rio Grande Valley and this was such a joy trying to catch them w/out them losin the tail... I recall sending my brother back in Illinois the tail from a Gecko and when the letter arrived he said..."What was that thing?" (lol) I didn't realized as a kid, the tail would have gotten smushed, while it was being processed at post office! (oops)

This message was edited Apr 20, 2006 10:57 PM

Oh speaking about owls... One night, during the summer time in Illinois, I had my bedroom window open and I heard an owl in the distance... Im like "WoW" this was my first time ever hearing one in the neighborhood re: (many large pine trees on our block)... then... the howling got closer and closer! My heart started beating fast! (lol) I wish I could have seen it :( That would have been kewl....

Was he a big old Hoot Owl? They still send shivers up my spine. The legend is Indian, but I don't know which tribe. I read it a long time ago. We also have Screech Owls. They sound quavery. When I was little there were 3 Screech Owls on top of my swingset and I screamed! I had a real tall homemade swingset too.

If I had to guess, yes, it was a big old hooting owl! Oh, ok re: legend tale...Gosh, screeching owls... and then seeing 3 of them on your swingset!..... That is pretty kewl having a homemade swingset (lucky you) :)

It was on like, telephone poles, but not that tall. We had a glider, swing and later a trapeze bar. We would pump up in the swing as high as possible and jump out. It was the coolest feeling. I'm sure I have a picture of it in the album. Dad also welded us a small merry go round. We also had a home made slide with a metal refrigerator part I think. I remember Dad telling us to slick it up with wax paper at the bottom. We did. It worked. I forgot he welded a monkey bar too.

This message was edited Apr 21, 2006 7:08 PM

That must have been totally kewl having a dad so handy! And all them amazing big toys in your yard! When I spent my summers here as a young kid, in the Rio Grande Valley, I use to look forward to staying with my grandparents becuz across the street was a school and the playground was empty most of the time... and "Yes" we also used wax paper! It totally made the slide super slippery! It was so fast that most of the time, ended up landing on mah butt (lol)

I've never known anyone else use waxpaper. LOL. I never thought about being lucky. Dad welds, but not professionally. We're lucky nothing fell apart. I always thought the merry go round was amazing even if it wasn't too big.

Well, I pretty much grew up without a dad from age 2 yrs til 10... so most of the time was playing hockey on rollerskates using a broom as the stick (lol) and playing baseball with the neighbor kids....oh and collecting rocks (lol)

I didn't really have a Dad either. He wasn't a kid person. Mom made him take us when he went to the farm to see his folks. (A whole 21/2 miles out of town.) After work, he roofed for other people till dark. So we didn't see much of him. We get along great now because he gardens.

Im glad to hear that you still see him and he also likes to garden :)

He lives straight down the road, 4 blocks and across the highway from me. He just dropped off a pan of asparagus. Tomorrow I'll drop off a pan of homemade rolls that are raising.

That is super kewl! Last, I heard from a relative, that my dad is planning on moving to Texas from Illinois as well... I have 2 half brothers and one half sister.

I just ate a roll. I have 2 younger brothers. Lost my younger sister in ''75.'' Car wreck. Mom passed 19 months ago after long illnesses. Ihave 1 daughter, 1 grandson and another on the way. Small family.

Im sorry to hear about your passing away of your sister and mother :( My favorite aunt who was like my second mother pasted away of colon cancer in 96 the day after my birthday :( The day she died, I got my leaping rabbit in pink and purple outlined in black, tattooed on my left ankle, the design is a victorian-ish looking drawing of a rabbit taken from a Rubberstamp, I have..... My (Aunt Beatriz) always told me as, long as (she) lived, that I was never going to get a tattoo...(lol) From photos, I have seen of my real dad, has a black couger tattooed on his inner part of his arm....

Trying to keep to the Topic of this post (lol)
Here is an altered photo, using (Adobe) I took today of a butterfly.....



This message was edited Apr 27, 2006 9:55 PM

That is beautiful!
A black cougar would be interesting.
I like the rabbit idea from the stamp.

Tks....re: tattoo--> I do like art.. (lol) One tattoo is my limit....

I doubt I ever get one.

I never thought I would get one... til I worked with a bunch of younger folks and .... was given advice into ....thinking about what I really wanted on my body for the rest of my life (lol) the rabbit symbolizes many meanings in my life... For instance... was given a big rabbit paperdoll, at least that is what I though it was (lol) at age 4 yrs old on my birthday...then was told we were having a bunch of kids over to braking it to pieces.... I cried mah eyes before and after the event...(lol)

Aawww, how sad. Well your rabbit is with you always now.