Thursday, September 12, 2013

The ultimate photobomb

II was taking street scene pics in Amana this afternoon for a community guide when this little guy literally got in my face. He came up out of a flowerbox about 6 inches in front of my nose. After deciding no, I hadn't peed my pants, I abandoned the street scenes and focused on him.


My previous experience with trying to photograph hummingbirds (or is this a hummingbird moth? I'm pretty clueless) is that the instant you point a camera at them, they disappear. Or they move so dang fast my elementary photo skills are not up to the task.


Not this time. This fellow was very amenable to being stalked. He even buzzed me a couple of times. Do you know what it feels like to have hummingbird wings brush your ear? Slightly more delicate than malinois teeth snapping in the same vicinity. Both qualify as a religious experience.


Who says you shouldn't stick your tongue out in pictures? I think he's kind of adorable.

If any of you bird-y peeps out there could identify his species, I'd love to know more. We have several who are regular visitors at home, too.

6 comments:

  1. Not a hummingbird but a hummingbird moth, I think.

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  2. I believe that this is a White-lined sphinx hummingbird moth.

    http://morningbrayfarm.com/2010/07/18/white-lined-sphinx-hummingbird-moth/

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  3. Looks to be a moth. Possibly a white-lined sphinx.
    http://tinyurl.com/onlhbf9. This type of moth is easily identified as a "hummingbird".

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  4. Wow! We get lots of hummingbirds, but I've never seen a moth anything like that. Amazing.

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  5. WOW! I've never even heard of a hummingbird moth! He's got a curled tongue! I wonder if that is a recessive trait? snapping malinois vs hummingbird moth buzz? I could see that.

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