More fauna

I snapped a few photos in between downpours today. Here's a cool bee of some sort. Definitely not your normal honeybee—check out those tiger stripes!

I can always find honeybees on the alium:

I think I've correctly identified this little guy as a fiery Skipper. They can be hard to shoot because they're so jumpy. I had to be patient & move slowly so I wouldn't scare it away. Once he got used to me, he was content to let me watch him feed.

Fauna

When you live in the city, you don't see a lot of wildlife. In fact, that's something I really miss, living in the suburbs. One of these days I'll get my dream home on a large wooded lot. Until then, I followed some wasps back to the nest they were building underneath one of the windows. Sorry guys, but I don't need you hanging around my deck! Nice work, though. 

One of the culprits was sleeping on the rose of Sharon:

I get the feeling I'm being watched...

...by a tiny yellow bug!

I know, I know... flies are gross. But they're kinda cool-looking:

Honeybees really like the alium!

I discovered another Striped Morning Sphinx, or White-lined Sphinx, hiding among the liriope grass:

'Scuse my geeking out over cool animals...

At 2 am this morning (don't ask me why I was still up at 2 am), I spotted this spectacular moth clinging to my front screen door. And fortunately for me, he didn't seem to mind being photographed. After a little research I identified it as a Striped Morning Sphinx, or White-lined Sphinx. It's supposedly one of the most common large moths in North America, and extends all the way to Canada & Mexico too. If they're so common, why don't I ever see them?! Oh, right... 2 am...

It reminded me of the cool & strange moth I saw on my cabin door while up in Montana for Kelley & Eric's wedding in August 2008. I later identified it as a One-eyed Sphinx, or Cerisy's Sphinx. The top-down view of this moth is interesting enough, but check out the shape of its body and size of its head & antennae from the side! I submitted the find to a website that tracks moth habitat. This was the first reported in Montana. Cool!