judy smith moth 2

A hummingbird moth hovers over some late-summer blossoms.

Photos and story by Judy Smith

(Click on photos to enlarge)

Submitting these flower pix I took in my front yard. The first is phlox visited by a swallowtail butterfly; the others are cosmos.

   The summer will soon be a memory to draw comfort from after the spectacle of autumn color too quickly fades into the long, cold drabness of winter. So it’s even more important to use what’s left of this great time of year to get out and enjoy the colorful plants and fascinating creatures that inhabit all the little universes around us.

   Take the hummingbird moth, for example. It seems to create an identity crisis both for itself and its observers. The moth frequents the same sweet hot spots that butterflies, bees and hummingbirds do. Its hovering flight skills resemble the hummingbird, but a second look makes you say to yourself, “What the heck is that thing?” It certainly doesn’t bowl you over with its beauty like the “hummers” do, and the “in your face” photo I was able to take this year shows it just might have an attitude. Who knows? Maybe that’s just compensation for its insecurities as more superlatives describe its flashier and faster counterpart in the sugar-slurping world. But though its status is not on par with the hummingbird, the hummingbird moth is far from ordinary, and if you want to see more of them, use plants like honeysuckle, phlox and butterfly bushes to attract them to your yard.

   Often the memories of simple experiences with the extraordinary in nature can be gifts for our souls in any season.

   I also took photos of several butterflies which, like the hummingbird moth, continue to feast on our butterfly bush. I saw one fluttering against death with a tattered wing, but it was enjoying every drop of sweetness it could before dying … a pretty clear message there for us!

judy smith butterfly 3

judy smith butterfly 1

judy smith phlox

judy smith cosmos 2

Pink cosmos.

judy smith cosmos