Hummingbird Hawk Moth

Every year we have a few of these beautiful, bird-like moths visiting our garden. Usually I try to capture the wings in their still position as in the extra, but today I left the speed much lower to try to capture the wing movement. They have a rapid wingbeat up to 70 beats per second (depending on the species), enabling them to fly up to 12 mph. Instead of a beak like a hummingbird, it has a long tongue-like proboscis that rolls out of its coiled tube to reach the nectar deep inside flowers. 

I liked this description on a blog on the web, “The hawk moth is the flying tanker of the insect world. Big, fast, and always refueling, yet it still retains the typical agility of smaller insects. This super-insect is a remarkable creature that redefined the limits of insects and helped scientists learn the mechanics of insect flight.”

Huge thanks to you for the many presents left for the 
Alpenglow yesterday, it had been a while since I saw that.