Nature’s Surprises

My favorite part of nature is how it surprises me over and over again. In my previous blog post there is a photo of a red-tailed hawk on the ground. I was walking along thinking that it had been a relatively slow day, when all of a sudden I saw something large about two feet away from the trail. She was feeding on some tasty morsel and was completely unconcerned with my presence. I have never been so close to a hawk before and most likely never will again. I was in such awe to be near such a beautiful, wild thing.

Last week I came home from work for lunch one afternoon and found this hummingbird clearwing moth enjoying its own tasty morsels in my hummingbird garden (which I have rebranded as my pollinator garden because the hummingbirds aren’t interested). I immediately went inside to retrieve my camera, hoping it wouldn’t be gone when I got back. I was so lucky to be able to snap the photos above. I had heard of hummingbird clearwing moths before, and had seen photos others have taken of them in this area, but the utter surprise of seeing one in my own garden – it made my day/week. I was only able to see its wings by taking these photos – these moths hover over flowers in the same way that hummingbirds do (hence the name), beating their wings at a speed so fast that they are just a blur to the naked eye.

One of my “23 for 2023” projects is to compile a list of simple delights/joys. I know that Nature’s Surprises will be in the top ten. I’m still working on the others but they are coming to this space soon!

Have a wonderful week, friends.

Love,

Michelle xoxo