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Welcome to austinagrodolce … My family and I garden with more intention and enthusiasm than allocated budget or overall design plan. It shows. Wildlife populations don't seem to notice our lack of cohesive design, they just like the native plants here. It seems by growing local we've thrown out a welcome mat. Occasionally, we're surprised at who (and what) shows up.



Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Already I am dealing with

what I think of as my "count down" nerves.  To distract myself I keep pushing away from my computer screen and making myself go outside.

Once out of doors it becomes easy to momentarily forget anything weighing in any balance other than the bounty that is expressed in a back yard in November in Austin, Texas.  

I thought I would share photos here as randomly inspired.  As a something-or-other, I don't know, gesture perhaps?  Serving as punctuation for the slow fraying of my nerves.

First up?  This is a shot of what is called a hummingbird moth.  When I saw photos of these on other people's blogs I wondered at how uniformly the reported response to seeing one of these was "I thought I had some new or different kind of small hummingbird working in my garden".  

Because when you look at a static photo of a hummingbird moth, especially up close, it really looks like a moth that only kind of looks like a hummingbird.
It is only when you first see it working the blossoms that you come to appreciate how hummingbird-like the motions of this nectar feeding moth really are.  

It became obvious to me that anybody accustomed to seeing a certain nectar loving tiny bird work a patch of blossoms, upon seeing that characteristic darting about followed by diving in and then darting about again?  Any such person used to seeing hummingbirds feeding will see that activity and automatically register "hummingbird".  

It is only once you get closer that you realize two things.  

1)  That hummingbird sure is working the flowers a lot more consistently than you are used to seeing.  Most hummingbird sightings are fairly brief, especially when camera wielding humans are closing in.  

2) Then you also realize: oh, it's got antennae.  Ta da!  Moth.

4 comments:

Tina said...

I'm also joyfully out in the garden today (well, not at the moment...). Partly, like you to avoid too much radio (I don't watch much television) and partly because it's just soooo beautiful and I have work to do in my gardens. I love the photo with the moth peaking out from the bloom. Might I suggest that he (she?) looks slightly annoyed? Too cute. Enjoy the day and whatever it brings.

TexasDeb said...

Tina: I think you are correct. He (she?) did seem annoyed at my persistent stalking with the camera. I suppose all celebrities tire of the paparazzi eventually.

Fingers crossed we wake up tomorrow with a settled election process. One way or the other (mostly the one way though) I am ready for this to be OVER.

Cat said...

Well, it's over. Now we can get back to the business at hand...Christmas shopping. Just kidding. You know I'm kidding.

My distraction during the whole business of electing a President seemed to be butterflies. I spent more time outside and was delighted at all the butterflies in my garden! Pictures to follow soon.

TexasDeb said...

Cat, you're right. It is time to get that shopping knocked off the list. (I'm only partly kidding - I do shop early...and often....).

Pictures of butterflies? Always awesome. I'll be watching your blog.