Have You Ever Seen One of These?

These two pictures are of horn worms that will become what are popularly known as a Hummingbird Moth.

If I hadn't been standing with a gardener at the time, I doubt I would have even noticed these things, which considering their size (I saw two that had to be at least 4 inches long), is saying something.

A larger green caterpillar with the dotted racing stripes down its fuselage was so thick it looked to be almost 3/4 of an inch in diameter.  But it blended into the greenery so well, I couldn't get it's picture.

The two were munching on Eastern Primose flowers in advance of finding a place to bed down and begin to sprout their wings.

The moths they become are White-lined Sphinx moths, but known as Hummingbird moths because their size is similar to that of the hummingbird and they actually drink nectar from flowers like the hovering fast attack jets of the air.

Since most moths are out around dusk - I can't say I've seen them around before, but I'll be looking for them this year.

In doing some research on the little munching machines, it indicated some of these crawlers can enjoy dining on tomatoes, but in most cases do minimal damage to crops.

Of course, if you have a whole bunch in your garden, you may want to close down the buffet line.

Today's blog is a perfect example of why I like keeping a camera around with me - because without these pictures I don't have a blog to share.

And I'm not sure I could live with myself if I hadn't been able to show and tell you about hook worms and the Hummingbird Moth!