A New Moth For Me: While doing my photographing this morning I noticed a different moth fluttering around. This moth would not just land and be still. His wings were fluttering a...

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

While doing my photographing this morning I noticed a different moth fluttering around. This moth would not just land and be still. His wings were fluttering a million flaps per minute. Not only that he would flit from one flower to another. Not one photograph was I able to take with him just sitting there quietly.

Hopefully one of our experts will be able to identify him/her. I do love the bright red tongue.

Dennis

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bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

dennis2146 wrote:

While doing my photographing this morning I noticed a different moth fluttering around. This moth would not just land and be still. His wings were fluttering a million flaps per minute. Not only that he would flit from one flower to another. Not one photograph was I able to take with him just sitting there quietly.

Hopefully one of our experts will be able to identify him/her. I do love the bright red tongue.

Dennis

Good set Dennis. Interesting tongue!

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

bcheary wrote:

Good set Dennis. Interesting tongue!

Thanks bcheary. Yes, that tongue sure got my attention.

Dennis

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

What ever it is you captured it well Dennis

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

Curmudgeon wrote:

What ever it is you captured it well Dennis

Thanks Jack. I appreciate your comments.

Dennis

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

A nice set, Dennis.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

dennis2146 wrote:

While doing my photographing this morning I noticed a different moth fluttering around. This moth would not just land and be still. His wings were fluttering a million flaps per minute. Not only that he would flit from one flower to another. Not one photograph was I able to take with him just sitting there quietly.

Hopefully one of our experts will be able to identify him/her. I do love the bright red tongue.

Dennis

Great set!!

roxiemarty Loc: Florida

It is either a Skipper butterfly, or a sphinx. I'm leaning towards a type of skipper.

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

kpmac wrote:

A nice set, Dennis.

Thank you very much kpmac. I appreciate your comments.

Dennis

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

Manglesphoto wrote:

Great set!!

Thank you Frank. As always I appreciate you stopping by.

Dennis

relbugman Loc: MD/FL/CA/SC

Neither Skipper nor Sphinx, it's a Cutworm adult, one of many species that are very similar, in the moth family Noctuidae, which also includes Underwings and inchworms, a.o.
Try https://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=autographa&search=Search for a few of them in one genus - Autographa, among many.

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

roxiemarty wrote:

It is either a Skipper butterfly, or a sphinx. I'm leaning towards a type of skipper.

Thank you roxiemarty for your comment. It does somewhat resemble the orange skipper I see so often but heavier in the feather area. Wait a minute...are they feathers like birds have or more like thick hair? Well, whatever.

Dennis

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

relbugman wrote:

Neither Skipper nor Sphinx, it's a Cutworm adult, one of many species that are very similar, in the moth family Noctuidae, which also includes Underwings and inchworms, a.o.
Try https://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=autographa&search=Search for a few of them in one genus - Autographa, among many.

Thank you very much relbugman for your comment and link. When I clicked on the link I recalled photographing one pictured there a few weeks ago. But that one was not flying around like it needed to continue flapping its wings but was more sedate as it landed on the side of my shed allowing me to photograph it. That one looked like the one in this thread. I tried to copy and paste the one similar in the photos you sent but it didn't work for me. No surprise there. It was like the 4th one from the left in the top row.

Dennis

roxiemarty Loc: Florida

dennis2146 wrote:

Thank you roxiemarty for your comment. It does somewhat resemble the orange skipper I see so often but heavier in the feather area. Wait a minute...are they feathers like birds have or more like thick hair? Well, whatever.

Dennis

It is definitely a Skipper butterfly. There are over 200 species of them and it is hair. That is a feature of all of them. If you Google types of skippers you will find many similar ones.

relbugman Loc: MD/FL/CA/SC

Depending on weather and species, many of these moths maintain a higher-than-ambient temperature allowing for a rapid escape if threatened; like Bumble bees and some Conenose katydids, they do this by constant wing vibration generating heat. I wouldn't count on a specific ID from a photo because there are so many similar species. The experts may dissect out the genitalia to examine and ID cryptic species. There are a LOT of species of 'bugs', and many are visually identical.
Just an opposite thought - many bugs do the opposite! When they find an abundant food source they shut down, maximizing energy conservation, just keeping the eating mechanism working. Isn't Mom Nature amazing? Whatever works.