Words and pictures from the author of And the Crows Took Their Eyes as well as the Elizabeth Goodweather Appalachian Mysteries . . .
Monday, August 9, 2010
The Impostor
I was busy in the garden, picking tomatoes, getting in the rest of the corn -- what ears the raccoons had left -- as well as okra and eggplant -- some of which are white and do, indeed, look like eggs -- and picking squash, cucumbers, and beans, when I saw this critter on a bean leaf.
Ir looked kind of like a bumble bee . . . but then again . . .
Then again . . . this one belowis a bumble bee, this fella on the sunflower. The one on the bean leaf has club-shaped antennae like a moth and the set of its wings is quite different.
Off to Mr. Google where I typed in bee and moth and voila! . . . found out that the impostor bee was a Bumblebee Moth -- of the family of Sphinx moths. His bumblebee looks protect him from many predators.
He's also known as a Hummingbird Moth because of his habit of hovering to feed from flowers. (I've seen them doing this before but only in motion and at a distance and hadn't noticed the bee disguise.)
What on earth did we do before the internet and Google? So many times I come in from working outside and head right for the computer with my burning questions that Google can answer in an instant! Amazing!
How clever you are, Vicki! I thought it was a kind of butterfly, but a moth is a kind of butterfly, isn't it? Your photos are very great macro pictures.
The word "Voila" is in common usage over here, Miss Yves. (But I don't know how to get the diacritical mark over the a.) Of course we pronounce the word with a hideous accent -"Wah-lah" or -- even worse, "Vi-ola." Sometimes it's done as an attempt at humor, sometimes it's just ignorance.
Amen to that, Pat and Brian!
Always exciting to see something new in one's backyard, Jean!
To Wil and Suz and Alan - thanks for the kind words re my photos but , in truth, it's that I have a really good camera and a lens that likes macro.
Deanna -- our garden has been pretty good -- it's kind of raggedy just now -- time to start clearing away old bug-eaten stuff and think about a fall garden.
15 comments:
I've never seen anything like it, Vicki. You and Mr Google make a good detective partnership!
Yes, it is!
And your harmony in yellow is lovely.
J'aime "Voilà!*", *En français dans le texte !
What on earth did we do before the internet and Google? So many times I come in from working outside and head right for the computer with my burning questions that Google can answer in an instant! Amazing!
fascinating...nature is so interesting....i had never saw one of these before...and yes thank goodness for google...smiles.
I can't believe how perfectly she posed for you! I've never seen one of these either.
How clever you are, Vicki! I thought it was a kind of butterfly, but a moth is a kind of butterfly, isn't it?
Your photos are very great macro pictures.
all that bounty to harvest AND a bumblebee moth too
I have seen them but never resting
And my goodness..what good photos you have taken
I've never seen the likes of it! Google is my buddy too.
Your garden sounds fantastic.
Nature is indeed nifty, but not as nifty as those that manage to capture shots such as these.
Beautiful!
Mr. Google and I are BFF, Martin!
The word "Voila" is in common usage over here, Miss Yves. (But I don't know how to get the diacritical mark over the a.) Of course we pronounce the word with a hideous accent -"Wah-lah" or -- even worse, "Vi-ola." Sometimes it's done as an attempt at humor, sometimes it's just ignorance.
Amen to that, Pat and Brian!
Always exciting to see something new in one's backyard, Jean!
To Wil and Suz and Alan - thanks for the kind words re my photos but , in truth, it's that I have a really good camera and a lens that likes macro.
Deanna -- our garden has been pretty good -- it's kind of raggedy just now -- time to start clearing away old bug-eaten stuff and think about a fall garden.
Yes you found a fake bumblebee. I have been seeing them around here too.
breathe taking images!
Yes-it sure is nifty! And I'm going to be on the look out for the bumble bee moth now.
So interesting to read about your peculiar visitor when only yesterday I encountered a hoverfly trying to pass as a bee! ;-)
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