To end my “in the garden” nature series, here are some butterflies. All were taken in my flower garden.

Last night’s orangey moon as seen through the branches of our trees was very cool. Add to that the fact that the cicadas started up (finally) and that was enough for me to try and capture them both in a vid for you. Do you have cicadas where you live? I love how they sound like they are having a conversation. I hope the motion of the camera as I am trying to hold it steady doesn’t make you motion sick, but just turn up your volume and listen ...

In case you couldn’t tell, I’ve been spending a lot of time in our woods and garden. Having a camera in hand while communing with nature is therapy for me. I can lose myself for hours [if only my camera battery would hold out that long!].

The bee balm is on the wane in looks but very much a nectar magnet for the hummingbirds and hummingbird moths. The coneflowers are the favorite of the butterflies, and yes dear readers, soon you will be regaled with butterfly photos taken over the past week. Egads. I hope I’m not boring you with my “nature” series this week.

If only we had more rain the mushrooms would make an appearance and I’d have to photograph them as well and we have some interesting ones in our yard.

I now know that this little hummingbird moth is a Snowberry Clearwing Hummingbird Moth. What a delightful name ... snowberry clearwing. Sounds like something a celebrity might name their child! His little body looks similar to a lobster, don’t you agree? Look at the way his tail fans out! In the next photo I had no idea I was catching him with his little tongue—or proboscis— all curled up underneath him ... fascinating. I read that the length of the proboscis roughly equals the length of the flower tube that the moth frequents. Makes sense.

Click here if you want to know more about them.

I’ve tried to catch a hummingbird on the bee balm but they flit away as soon as they see me coming. Aren’t you lucky?

More slo-mo as requested. Some of you may find this vid boring. Others will be fascinated to find out that the total time elapsed in making this vid was only one second. That’s it. I tried to count the number of wing beats and I came up with something like 72. Can you imagine beating your wings 72 times in one second?

Back to a new slo-mo vid for you. Who knew that butterflies [or maybe these are moths?] use their wings like birds do? They always look like they are just flitting around and not taking deep strokes. This is a series of clips put together in one video. Watch for a bumblebee to helicopter in on the third butterfly segment.