svenpetersen1965
Macroglossum stellatarum (Hummingbird Hawk-moth) and Lavender (Explore)
This is a pretty special moth. It is active while daytime and it is travelling up to 3000km (nearly 1900 miles) to get here. I think, it doesn't live here in Germany for a long time. When I have seen it first (probably around Y2K), I first wondered, that there was a humming bird. It is moving so quickly and the tail nearly looks like a birds tail (the German name is Taubenschwänzchen = little dove tail). They come to our lavender (we have lots of it) and seem to have a good time in our garden.
Taking pictures of it is not easy. You either need a suitable flash light (which I don't have) or use a very short shutter speed. Since my D90 can do ISO 6400, I had a chance to take a decent picture @ 1/4000sec.
Macroglossum stellatarum, known as the Hummingbird Hawk-moth or sometimes the Hummingmoth, is a species of Sphingidae. Its long proboscis and its hovering behaviour, accompanied by an audible humming noise, make it look remarkably like a hummingbird while feeding on flowers. It shouldn't be confused with the moths called hummingbird moths in North America, genus Hemaris, members of the same family and with similar appearance and behavior. The resemblance to hummingbirds is an example of convergent evolution. It flies during the day, especially in bright sunshine, but also at dusk, dawn, and even in the rain, which is unusual for even diurnal hawkmoths. Its visual abilities have been much studied, and it has been shown to have a relatively good ability to learn colours.
The Hummingbird Hawk-moth is distributed throughout the northern Old World from Portugal to Japan, but is resident only in warmer climates (southern Europe, North Africa, and points east). It is a strong flier, dispersing widely 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).
Moths in the Hemaris genus of the family Sphingidae are known as "hummingbird moths" in the US, and "bee moths" in Europe, which sometimes causes confusion between this species and the North American genus.
Macroglossum stellatarum (Hummingbird Hawk-moth) and Lavender (Explore)
This is a pretty special moth. It is active while daytime and it is travelling up to 3000km (nearly 1900 miles) to get here. I think, it doesn't live here in Germany for a long time. When I have seen it first (probably around Y2K), I first wondered, that there was a humming bird. It is moving so quickly and the tail nearly looks like a birds tail (the German name is Taubenschwänzchen = little dove tail). They come to our lavender (we have lots of it) and seem to have a good time in our garden.
Taking pictures of it is not easy. You either need a suitable flash light (which I don't have) or use a very short shutter speed. Since my D90 can do ISO 6400, I had a chance to take a decent picture @ 1/4000sec.
Macroglossum stellatarum, known as the Hummingbird Hawk-moth or sometimes the Hummingmoth, is a species of Sphingidae. Its long proboscis and its hovering behaviour, accompanied by an audible humming noise, make it look remarkably like a hummingbird while feeding on flowers. It shouldn't be confused with the moths called hummingbird moths in North America, genus Hemaris, members of the same family and with similar appearance and behavior. The resemblance to hummingbirds is an example of convergent evolution. It flies during the day, especially in bright sunshine, but also at dusk, dawn, and even in the rain, which is unusual for even diurnal hawkmoths. Its visual abilities have been much studied, and it has been shown to have a relatively good ability to learn colours.
The Hummingbird Hawk-moth is distributed throughout the northern Old World from Portugal to Japan, but is resident only in warmer climates (southern Europe, North Africa, and points east). It is a strong flier, dispersing widely 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).
Moths in the Hemaris genus of the family Sphingidae are known as "hummingbird moths" in the US, and "bee moths" in Europe, which sometimes causes confusion between this species and the North American genus.