What’s with all the moths lately? We found a white-lined sphinx hummingbird moth enjoying the bee balm in our garden yesterday.
I think they’re gorgeous.
See the curled proboscis in this picture?
From butterfliesandmoths.org:
Caterpillar hosts: A great diversity of plants including willow weed (Epilobium), four o’clock (Mirabilis), apple (Malus), evening primrose (Oenothera), elm (Ulmus), grape (Vitis), tomato (Lycopersicon), purslane (Portulaca), and Fuschia.
Adult food: Nectar from a variety of flowers including columbines, larkspurs, petunia, honeysuckle, moonvine, bouncing bet, lilac, clovers, thistles, and Jimpson weed.
Habitat: A wide variety of open habitats including deserts, suburbs, and gardens.
Range: Central America north through Mexico and the West Indies to most of the United States and southern Canada. Also occurs in Eurasia and Africa.
Management needs: Occasional outbreaks of caterpillars have damaged tomatoes, grapes, and garden crops in Utah. (And at Morning Bray Farm.)
July 18, 2010 at 5:38 am
Nice photos! Those big guys have fooled us into a second look thinking they were hummers, too.
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July 18, 2010 at 6:46 am
Gorgeous photos! I’m glad that your deep-seated hatred of moths in general did not cloud your vision from seeing the beauty in this one.
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July 18, 2010 at 7:04 am
Wow, those are great captures! Who knew these moths have such a long tongue!!
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July 18, 2010 at 7:08 am
That is a great series of pictures! Beautiful coloring on the wings. I wonder if it changes color based on what nectar it eats. Thanks for sharing something that I’ve never seen.
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July 18, 2010 at 7:38 am
What incredible pictures!!!!
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July 18, 2010 at 7:59 am
what gorgeous and amazing shots!!! and what a beautiful moth! thanks for sharing 🙂
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July 18, 2010 at 8:24 am
Oh, he is beautiful, especially that stripes and pink on the wing. I’ve been having some type of hawk moth visit my phlox but I am not sure what kind. Great close ups of the probiscus!!! And now I am wondering why I don’t have bee balm in my flower garden.
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July 18, 2010 at 8:25 am
Wow, what a catch of the last picture with “curled tongue!”
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July 18, 2010 at 9:06 am
How beautiful. I’d never heard of that kind of moth before. So sweet!
Di
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July 18, 2010 at 9:37 am
Love the pink coloring on the wings. We don’t get pretty ones like that, just plain old brown ones.
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July 18, 2010 at 9:37 am
The photos are amazing – I didn’t know there was such a moth!
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July 18, 2010 at 10:00 am
Great shots, Justina!!!!!
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a moth with pink before! How cool.
And that proboscis! Wow.
Thank you for sharing all of this with us!
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July 18, 2010 at 10:05 am
Beautiful photographs! Love the photos and the information =)
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July 19, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Those are outstanding photos worthy of publication. Seriously, especially the one where you caught the probiscus. They are pretty and BIG! Wow.
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September 11, 2011 at 4:17 pm
My grandswon will love these photos! Can’t wait to show them to him. ; )
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March 9, 2012 at 7:22 pm
this helped me identify what i just saw!!!
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May 22, 2012 at 10:21 am
Just saw one of these in my garden at dusk. Thought it was a baby hummingbird but friendlier. Beautiful insect and quite an imposter!
Not a common sight in the Pacific Northwest.
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September 7, 2012 at 5:46 pm
My Hubby thought he was seeing a baby Hummingbird…because we have seen hummers almost this tiny…. then finding out this was a moth. we had a GREAT LAUGH! We live in Boulder City, NV
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August 20, 2013 at 12:04 pm
I just saw one enjoying some flowers on my deck. Thanks to these photos I know what it is. Gorgeous. We live on the top of an Ozark Mountain on the south shore of Bull Shoals Lake.
Jude Dauw
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September 11, 2013 at 2:34 pm
Been seeing lots of these in my zinnias….amazng to watch them flutter from flower to flower!
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September 21, 2013 at 12:57 pm
Thanks for posting these great photos. Just saw one of these beauties the other night and knew it wasn’t one of my hummers. Have never seen one of these in northwest Indiana, what a sight!
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March 5, 2014 at 5:07 pm
I saw one today enjoying the nectar from grapefruit flowers in Arizona.
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