I was standing among the flowers under the heat, taking pictures of bees, hover flies, butterflies and more. As I was about to pack up and walk away, a large moth came into view. I thought I had my first sighting of a hummingbird moth, later learning it was my sighting of a white-lined sphinx, a moth with an 8 cm long wingspan. With the camera in hand and the moth providing me with about 15 seconds before disappearing, I got all the pictures I wanted.
Because of their birdlike size and the way they move, they are sometimes referred to as hummingbird moths. As caterpillars, they are the size of a finger or the gummy worm you enjoy. They eat many different types of plants as caterpillars and pollinate various flowers as adults. As adults, they normally fly before, after and during the nights, but sometimes during the day. Seeing one in the middle of the day among the wild sunflowers was a nice surprise.
