| Photo Information |
Copyright: Tanja Almazan (sily)
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 238 W: 6 N: 391]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-n-g.gif) (1893) |
| Genre: Animals |
| Medium: Color |
| Date Taken: 2007-04-01 |
| Categories: Insects |
| Camera: Canon PowerShot A710 IS |
| Exposure: f/4, 1/60 seconds |
| More Photo Info: [view] |
| Photo Version: Original Version |
| Date Submitted: 2007-04-02 7:19 |
| Viewed: 441 |
| Points: 4 |
|
| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Humming bird hawk moth
As you can see, but what you can't see is that I made more than 120 pics and only 4 of them were half useful;
For 20 minutes on too sunny afternoon I tried to make just single useful photo of him and was following him around, some were overexposed, most of them were blury and out of focus, and on this one I guess he is at least nicely visible.I even thought there was something wrong with my camera because it suffered a hit the other day, I changed from auto to manual and other modes in order to get something right, adjusted high shuter speed but that caused the loos of light, it was total nightmare not being able to take a single normal photo!
I fell into a hole, I burned myself on nettles, and at last I steped into a poo. During that time my fast subject was happily humming and eating without a care in the world.
I guess he made a nice first april joke on me.
About the moth:
Family: Sphingidae
Genus: Macroglossum
Species: M. stellatarum
The Hummingbird Hawk-moth is distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere from Spain to Japan, but is resident only in warmer climates (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Turkey, North Africa and points east). It is strongly migratory and can be found virtually anywhere in the hemisphere in the summer. However it rarely survives the winter in northern latitudes (e.g. north of the Alps in Europe, north of the Caucasus in Russia, etc.)
Larvae usually feed on bedstraws or madders (Rubia) Stellaria and Epilobium.
Adults are particularly fond of flowers with lots of nectar (e.g. Jasminum, Buddleia, Nicotiana, Primula, Viola, Syringa, Verbena, Echium, Phlox and Stachys. They are reported to trap-line, i.e. return to the same flower beds at about the same time each day.
Hummingbird hawk-moths are day fliers, preferring bright sunlight, but may also be seen at dawn and dusk and rarely at night. They are strongly attracted to flowers with a plentiful supply of nectar such as petunias, honeysuckle and buddleia.
Studies have noted that have a remarkable memory, and return to the same flowerbeds at the same time everyday(good to know if you want to take the photo of one!).They cannot survive the winter months and so migrate to southern parts of Europe.Hummingbird hawk-moths have been seen to demonstrate aerial courtship chases, with the male and female engaging in rapid pursuits low over the ground, or spiral upwards together. |
phlr, jeanpaul has marked this note useful
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![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3277 W: 77 N: 6486]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-g-g.gif)
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