Flying Lobster

“It looks like a little flying lobster, with two eyes on it's tail,” Bev said as we looked at the flying creature hovering over the Cleome flower. It was completed undeterred by us watching it as it moved from floer to flower, hovering like a humming bird.

In no time, we were able to find that it was, in fact, called a hummingbird moth. I was intrigued by the thought that this moth was able to flap its wings at a speed close to what a bee might be capable of, and in a much larger body than a moth. I wondered what the caterpillar must look like, and how common these were in our area—this was the first I’d seen.

The Cleome attracts an amazing number of bees and nectar seeking insects, and smells a bit like an onion. By the end of our short season it has turned into a flowering bush.

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