Hummingbird Moth at Brookside Gardens

One morning before my shift at Brookside Gardens’ Wings of Fancy last month, I finally managed to photograph the hummingbird moth (this one might be a Hemaris thysbe) that was frequenting the path toward the exhibits ticket taker station. They are difficult to photograph because they are always in motion. Most of the time the wings are just a blur. The wings can be moving differently enough that one is visible….and the other not!

I try to get different angles. The first time I ever saw a hummingbird moth (and had no idea what it was), I knew it wasn’t a hummingbird when I saw that it had antennae.

It moves around flowers a lot like a hummingbird but has a flexible proboscis rather than a beak and tongue.

And it has way too many legs to be a bird!

Mt. Pleasant in July 2017 – Part II

Continuing from my Monday post about last week’s walks before and after photography session with summer campers at Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm….The areas around the nature center were easy enough to walk around and through several times. There were cone flowers in the Honors Garden that were very attractive to the tiger swallowtails and other butterflies.

There were flowers growing up through the rungs of a bench that survived the campers (they managed to sit on the bench and not the flowers!).

We saw a cicada killer resting on one of the benches too.

I liked the view of Queen Anne’s Lace from below. The campers decided it looked like a tree.

All cone flowers are not pink!

In the quiet one morning – before the campers were anywhere near – I saw a cat bird in the garden (only heard it when the campers were around)

And a butterfly was interested in the pickerel weed at the small pond

Where there was a water strider moving around on the surface of the water.

Somehow some plants look otherworldly to me – as if they are two unrelated things glommed together. This is an example!

There were also early instars of an insect (maybe milkweed bugs) on one of the plants.

In the Garden Club garden with the ‘Flower Pot People’ there were mating milkweed beetles

And bugs

And several different instars of the milkweed bugs all on one plant!