Last month I went to a birthday party for the greatest nephews on the planet. Liam and Aidan’s mom gave me the job of photographer, and while I was chasing around after perfect birthday images, I came across a … a … thing. It was a flying thing, an insect of some sort, and it was flitting around the flower garden. The way it moved reminded me of a hummingbird, but it was much, much too small. For a time I completely lost my head and traipsed around the flowers with it, trying to take a picture. Eventually the Scooby Doo pinata was strung up, though, and I had to give up the chase.
When I got home, I did a little poking around. I scoured my butterfly guides for one that looked like what I had seen. Nothing.
I looked in my bird guide, thinking perhaps there was a teeny, tiny North American hummingbird species that I didn’t know about. Nope.
Then I got busy and forgot about the mystery entirely. Until this weekend, when I was loafing around the butterfly bushes looking for, well, you know, butterflies … and found this:
© Loree Griffin Burns
It is a hummingbird moth (I finally thought to check the insect guide), and it is gorgeous. How I managed forty years without ever seeing one before, I don’t know. But now that I am acquainted, it is hard to resist loafing at the butterfly bush full-time. How is a girl supposed to focus on her work with creatures like this flitting around the back yard? I ask you.