More Hummingbirds from visit with Alice

More Ruby Throated Hummingbirds from my visit with Alice in Deer Lodge, Tennessee. Alice has counted 10 at one time at the feeder. And I believe it. They were buzzing all around us, sometimes chases straight through the porch. Glad I didn't decide to stand up right at that moment.
She just has one feeder too. So it doesn't take more to get more Hummingbirds. If she has more than one they just go to the 2nd one when the first one is empty, they prefer this feeder. So she just uses the one feeder, and fills it every morning. She uses 5 lbs of sugar every week. Wonder if she put them on a diet when the bags changed to 4 lbs.

She said last year her count was way down, but back up this year. I have never seen a small number at her house, I think she has more than 10, that is just the number she has been able to count as they hover around this one feeder.

And we all prefer the ones without the feeders in the photograph, but they are harder to photograph that way too.

Then one out of my archives, from my feeders in 2007. This one was taken with my Fuji point and shoot, but it is still one of my all time favorites.

Hope you have enjoyed the Hummingbirds, it will probably be my only post this year of the Hummingbirds since I don't have feeders up. If you didn't see it, please look at the post below, it explains why I don't have feeders.

Why I don't have Hummingbird feeders at my house

This is why I don't have Hummingbird feeders at my house. All of these photographs were taken last year at my neighbor's house after I took my feeders down.

I tried again this year, but the bees returned.

And you thought ants were a problem.

The last photograph was taken next to Bill's garden. I think he was trying to pull them away from the feeders, but it didn't work. This one was taken at the same time as the others.

Hummingbird Clearwing

This female Ruby Throated Hummingbird also appears to have clear wings, but this is the bird, not a moth. I took this at my friend Alice's house in Deer Lodge, Tennessee. I went to spend the day with her Tuesday because I had not seen her in 5 years. Her husband asked me how many Hummingbirds I killed....he said I had been shooting them all day. I hate to admit it, but I did take a lot of photographs, and this is the only one this good straight out of the camera, no cropping to this photograph.

I started going to Alice's house 25 years ago, so I am not sure when, but I photographed my first hummingbirds sitting in almost the same exact spot as I was when I took this one. First Hummingbird I ever saw was right there too.

Clearwing Moth

Ok, it is a Clearwing Moth.

But is it a Hummingbird Clearwing or a Snowberry Clearwing?Naturally it liked the zinnia blooms that were beyond their peak.
This is the first time I have seen one in person, and I cannot tell which it is.
He did finally move to better looking bloom.
I am posting every one I took, in hopes somebody can tell me which one it is.

So which is it?

No matter what, I know for sure I have to stop whining about the lack of volume of butterflies this year. I am seeing some special butterflies and moths.

UPDATE: These are the Snowberry Clearwing Moth. Click here to view a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. Click here to view a Snowberry Clearwing Moth. Notice how red looking the Hummingbird Moth is.

Hackberry Emperor

Ok, I can stop whining now about no butterflies this year. This year, in my own yard, I have now photographed Cabbage Whites, Silver Spotted Skipper, Tiger Swallowtail, Dark Tiger Swallowtail, Spicebush Swallowtail, Variegated Fritillary, Gulf Fritillary, Great Spangled Fritillary, and now the Hackberry Emperior. Most I have only seen once, but I have seen them.

Last year I saw one Hackberry, and posted it here. It was also on the brick of my house. Now another one on the side of the house. I have never seen them on my zinnias. The color of my brick is a pretty good camouflage for the Hackberry, and notice something has already got a piece of him.

The only host plant of the Hackberry Emperor is the Hackberry tree, the only Hackberry tree I had was leaning over the road so the county cut it for us. Now I feel guilty, I might have more of these if I had kept the Hackberry tree. That was 2 years ago, so there must be another tree close by.

My favorite is this last one. It actually was the first one I snapped. I almost missed him. I had already turned the camera off and was stepping in the front door when I saw him.

Polyphemus Moth

Ten days ago when I met Jimmy for lunch he told me there was a huge moth at the plant and I needed to stop back by there to photograph it. Well, after lunch it was still in the same spot. It was alive, but not doing too well. I don't know what to do with a moth so after I photographed it we left it there, with intend of Jimmy getting it late that night if it was still there. It's predators had found it by then, and it was in pieces.

My main reference book (National Audobon Field Guide to Butterflies) does not include moths, so I grabbed the little Golden Guide from St Martin's Press "Butterflies and Moths". Right there it was, and it said...Polyphemus Moth, perhaps the commonest giant silk moth, was named after the one-eyed giant Polyphemus of Greek mythology because of the large eyespots on the hindwings.

Jimmy couldn't stand it, he had to measure it.

Hap from New Hope recommends "Butterflies of North America by Kenn Kaufman & Jim Brock and Butterflies through Binoculars-The East by Jeffrey Glassberg. Two nice guides to help with ID's." They will be on my wish list, maybe Jimmy will see a note laying around that I want these. :)

Earlier this week Jimmy told me he had me 2 dead moths that he was bringing home from the plant. One ended out to be a Tiger Swallowtail (he doesn't begin to know ids, he just likes), the other I have not id'd yet. He says the new plant is full of butterflies and moths. Maybe that is where all our butterflies are this year. They also have bats flying around in there.

Oriental Lilies Casablanca and Stargazer

Some more lilies that bloomed in my yard earlier this summer.You know me, I have to get closer.

Stargazer with Purple Liatris in the background.

Then Stargazer from a different flowerbed,

notice the calla lily leaves around it.

Conca d' Or hybrid lily

The label said OT Hybrid Lily Conca D' Or

I say "HUGE!!!"

I just liked the way the blooms looked laying on my diningroom table.

Back on July 1st, I posted several photographs of my daylily flowerbeds, here. In that post I mentioned a tall lily that I would post later, when it bloomed. This is it. These photos are a little overdue, since the lily has already finished blooming.

To get around my daylilies I had to cut the new shoots on the edges, they were not as tall, and I kept stepping on them. That is where I got the blooms laying on the table. I put them in water and gave them to a friend. She enjoyed them for close to a week. This is one of the sweetest smelling flowers in my yard.