Summertime Nature in Colorado. Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge.
Hummingbird Moth (also known as the White-lined Sphinx Moth, Hyles lineata). It is as large as a real hummingbird. Extracting nectar from a Nettle Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs Camera and 70-200 mm lens with a 1.7x Teleconverter. (ISO 100, 340 mm, f/4.8, 1/1000 sec).
We had a lot of rain last night. Good for the small wildflower meadows, and good for the few tomato plants that haven’t been nibbled by the deer. I did an early morning walkabout to view the wildflowers. I am still getting a lot of Poppy blooms, as well as Cosmos, Coreopsis, Zinnia, Blackeyed Susan, and others that I don’t know the ID. Some of the Sunflowers are starting to bloom (those that the deer didn’t find). I also saw that the Burma (Bottle Gourd) bloomed last night with a big white flower.
The kitchen renovation is progressing. All but one of the IKEA cabinets have been assembled. Still lots of work to do. After the contractor left, I went back out to the wildflower meadow and saw a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth. It made my day knowing that the work to create the trial wildflower garden/meadow was worth it…
The first Sunflower to bloom in my wildflower meadow. Somehow it escaped the deer that have nibbled many of the sunflower plants before they were able to bloom. The deer don’t seem to mind the electric fence. My neighbors tell me that I need to put up an 8-10 foot fence. That won’t keep the ground-hog from digging below the fence.
I have been taking pictures of the backyard wildflower meadow, but have not been keeping up with processing the images. I’ve also been juggling several home renovation projects. Someday, I need to share pictures of the inside projects. The outside patio is also moving along.