Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Sphinx Moth

Sphinx moth

More from the Friday night porch light session: This sphinx moth would normally have been the star of the show, if not for the huge Polyphemus moth. Although I poked and prodded it, and crawled around on the rain-soaked porch, I was unable to persuade this sphingid to show its hindwings, or angle about so I could catch its vivid red eye-shine with the camera flash. Still, it's a big, elegant moth, in rich shades of brown.

3 comments:

Reya Mellicker said...

They are such exotic creatures. I have a book of huge moth photographs that I never get tired of looking at. We had a big one on our new porch last night too - seemed a bit panicked because of the thunderstorms? or maybe beecause of being stuck behind a screen.

Larry said...
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Rebecca Clayton said...

They are amazing, aren't they? It seems as though they turn up at the house most often after a thunderstorm has blown through.

There are so many species of sphingids, and there is definitely individual variation within species, so I don't try to make identifications from photos. Those green-tinged ones, like lichens and moss--I think those are wonderful.