Look what I found, crawling on the asphalt outside my garage.
I went to my resident bug man, Dave Hertzler, to see if he could tell me what I was seeing.
It looked ominous to me — like it could sting, or maybe take down a Jonah Vine in an afternoon.
(See that story in Jonah 4)
Dave did a little research and was pretty certain it was
a white-lined sphinx moth caterpillar.
Some day that big, fat, green worm will look like this:
From wikipedia:
“The fore wing is dark brown with a tan stripe which extends from the base to the apex. There are also white lines that cover the veins. The black hind wing has a broad pink median band. It has a wingspan of 2 to 3 inches.”
This moth isn’t the most attractive of moths, (especially with its wings folded)
but its living habits make it fascinating to me.
For one thing, it flits about much like a hummingbird, gathering nectar from flowers.
We’ve seen a number of them in the gardens around Shady Acres.
They always surprise and delight me.
Yes, I put him back into the garden.
I am always amazed at the many, many things to see in our world.
And (are you getting tired of hearing this?) my heart gives grateful praise.
We have had some of that or similar type of moth in my garden, too. I’m not sure what it looks like because I only see it fluttering around my petunias. I’ve heard it called a Hummingbird Moth, but didn’t know it’s real name. They really are cool critters, though!
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