Stopped to check my mail (forgetting it was a national holiday) after getting home after sunset last night. Noticed an odd fluttering in the shrubs when I went back to the truck. Something rather large was flying around the honeysuckle. (A few branches put out blooms this time of year.) I totally understand why people sometimes mistake sphinx moths for hummingbirds; I sure as heck did at first.
A closer look--click photo to bigify--at this photo (lightly tweaked to bring the moth into focus--these things are fast, and it didn't like the camera's focus-light) explains why the winged thing was so far away from the flowers: look at that tongue! Hee-hee, its eye even reflects pink…
H@ly ^*%&ing #$%t. Snapped six "frames" and one was THE shot: cropped but not tweaked. (I really must learn some more swear words for situations like this. Bad enough I was standing in my drive hopping up and down squeaking, "I got it! I got it! I got it!". *sigh* If the neighbors didn't already know I'm nuts…)
Ready for its name? (Oh yeah, I looked this one up.) It's a good one: Pink-spotted Hawk Moth. (Only one of its family with pink on the abdomen, according to my Peterson Eastern Moth Guide; its cousins, like the Tomato Hornworm, have yellow spots.)
