God's Glorious Creatures

Last year about this time, my father screened in my back porch. We finally got a door for it, but it turned out to be much cheaper that we thought. So, my dad took the door with him to work on it. Now the patio is open and all kinds of creatures find their way in there, especially insects. In the past few days we have found some interesting ones. I took pictures so we could share. This year we will be studying insects for the last part of Zoo I, so this is very timely.

This one is definately a Sphinx moth or Hawk moth. They are so large and probably one of my favorite moths. He was already dead when we found him. They are unique because they pupate underground. It is related to the tomato/tobacco hornworm. (those big green worms that eat your tomato plants.)

This one is another favorite. Many confuse this one with a bumble bee. The size is about the same, but it is definately a moth; a Clear-winged sphinx moth. You can tell it is a moth when it is flying by looking at its clubbed antenna. When first born, the moth has black scales all over its wings, but as it flies most of them fall off leaving the wings clear.

Here's another view of him.

This one is a moth also, but I am not sure what kind. Look at his body, especially his tail. He was on the screen and looked like a leaf instead of an insect.

Here he is from another angle.

This is a black swallowtail. She was fiesty and I had a hard time getting her out of the patio. I usually try to scoop them into a box and then let them go. She wasn't going in the box, so I ended up gently using my hands.

We have also had a host of wasps and bees and the Arkansas state bird, the mosquito, camping out back there. As I was eating lunch on Sunday after church I looked out to see a hummingbird caught back there. I knew it would happen; I just didn't know when. I so wanted to be able to hold it, but it didn't seem very sure of me. Hummers are smart. It spotted the door and left on its own. We have lots of hummers at our house. We usually read our science or history on the porch so we can watch them feed and fight. One we have named Curious because she will fly up to the screen and look at us as we are reading. She is a cutie. She is tough to. She defends "her" feeder very well. They also feed from the other flowers in the garden underneath the feeder. We like to put rotting bananas out there to attract small insects for them to eat. Hummers love insects.

I'll keep you posted on what else we find that is interesting. I think we may have a door up some time next week.