![\"white-lined](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/white-lined-sphinx-moth-9777-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhen I bought my 500mm lens I never imagined that one day I’d be using\u00a0that monster\u00a0to photograph insects in flight. But that’s what happened over a period of several days in August of 2014 and I had a blast doing it.<\/p>\n
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1\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, natural setting, not set up<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n White-lined Sphinx Moths are also called hummingbird moths for their large size and similarity in hovering flight\u00a0habits and feeding methods\u00a0to those birds – a spectacular example of convergent evolution. They were feeding on the nectar of Rocky Mountain Bee Plant on Antelope Island by dipping their long, curled proboscis into the flowers. Like hummingbirds they would hover and\u00a0feed on one flower cluster for a few moments and then flit to another. Those delicate wings move very fast and they take a lot of abuse so this moth had tattered wings as a result.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/5.6, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, natural setting, not set up<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I needed very fast shutter speeds to get the wings sharp and I didn’t have enough\u00a0of it\u00a0here so they’re soft. Anyone who photographs hummingbirds knows that you need fast SS’s to get those buzz-saw wings sharp but these insects have hummingbirds beat when it comes to wing speed. Bats generate about 17 wingbeats per second and hummingbirds about 50 wingbeats per second but sphinx moths top them all at 85 beats per second.<\/p>\n I also\u00a0include this image to show that interesting and very long\u00a0proboscis. Here it’s\u00a0in an intermediate position between being extended almost straight out while its feeding and a tightly coiled position under the “chin”. When extended the proboscis is almost as long as the body.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here the proboscis is extended deep into the flower while the insect is hovering and feeding. This is one of the relatively few images where I caught a moth against a clean background.<\/p>\n I’m\u00a0absolutely fascinated by that eye. Notice that in these\u00a0three images the dark spot or\u00a0“pseudo-pupil” appears to change position in the\u00a0eye but in reality it’s simply the patch of\u00a0compound eye facets that is absorbing most of the light from the direction of the observer. The patch seems to move, when in fact what you’re seeing is\u00a0a new patch of light-absorbing facets as the moth changes position relative to the observer.<\/p>\n The time I spent with these moths was superb training for my in-flight tracking and focusing\u00a0skills. While they are large for an insect they’re smaller and even faster\u00a0than hummingbirds so it was both challenging and hugely rewarding to get a sharp shot (I just about wore out my delete key while culling these images).<\/p>\n There was very little Rocky\u00a0Mountain Bee Plant on the island last summer so I was moth-skunked but I’m hoping that next summer will be different.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n![\"white-lined](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/white-lined-sphinx-moth-0862-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"white-lined](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/white-lined-sphinx-moth-0870b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
1\/4000, f\/5.6, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, natural setting, not set up<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
![\"rufous](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/rufous-hummingbird-plus-moth-2555b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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