Wednesday 28 August 2013

From Rila (mountain) with love: cute and colourful bugs

While hiking in Rila mountain next to the breathtaking views we had fabulously colourful encounters with small and tiny representatives from the butterfly/bug/caterpillar family...So please meet the hummingbird hawk-moth (also known as "humming moth" or "гълъбова опашка" in Bulgarian and "Taubenschwänzchen" in German). When you look at the wings of this butterfly (yep, its part of the butterfly family) you will instantly know why its call that way:-) 

While I was checking online its names in different languages I found some interesting facts about it. The humming moth is supposed to recognise colours pretty well, it recognise the yellow and blue nuances pretty well, however he humming moth can not tell the difference btween the black and the red. It flies in sunshine, but also at dusk, dawn and even in rain which is pretty rare for hawkmoths. And the third picture could be its larvae, we did not ask though:-) the last stranger we met was so great colour, we forgot to ask for his/her name during the photohooting, if anyone knows, pls tell me!

12 comments:

Jeanne said...

Cute shots Jana. Especially love the first one with the thistle, and ??moth. Great shot!

Rosemary said...

You have captured the Hummingbird Hawkmoth beautifully - they are fairly recent arrivals in our country over the past six years.

Joop Zand said...

Very nice photo's Jana.....well done again.

Greetings, Joop

Dietmut said...

mooie serie en uitleg Jana. Lieve groeten, Dietmut

Breathtaking said...

Lovely photos Jana:) Interesting facts about the Hummingbird Halkmoth.Well done for capturing this energetic moth,...so difficult to do!!

Lies said...

Vaak adembenemende logjes bij jou, Jana ! Evengoed heel groot als piepklein...
Lie(f)s.

Filip and Kristel said...

Your first two pictures are unbelievable.

Greetings,
Filip

LilliStJohn said...

I have never seen one of these until this morning and never actually heard of them. We have many hummingbirds and moths but not quite like this fellow. Really neat shots and so nice to continue to be educated with great posts like yours Jana. The colours are really beautiful, especially that last one. Have a wonderful day :)

Bety said...

Жани, чудесни снимки си направила! Зарадвах се дори и на зловещото гъсениче! А тези розови тръни ухаят прекрасно! Аз си суша в момента у дома. И от тях се носи страхотен меден аромат!

Хубав, цветен, топъл, ароматен месец септември ти пожелавам!

Dietmut said...

wat een interessante kever is die "blauwe"!
Fijne avond Jana en groetjes, Dietmut

Koryn said...

This reminds me of the movie "A Bug's Life"!

The blue bug is so cute! The color just stands out and.. Well, I just love the color haha.

betchai said...

oh indeed, they are so cute!