Coupla portraits

Just a pair of portrait perspectives taken yesterday – nothing deep or meaningful.

hummingbird clearwing moth Hemaris thysbe resting on butterfly bush Buddleja davidii
Late yesterday morning I was surprised to find a hummingbird clearwing moth (Hemaris thysbe) remaining perched on the blossoms of one of the butterfly bushes (which I keep forgetting are now Buddleja davidii, and not Buddleia – quite an annoying change, to be honest.) While I’ve actually never seen either Hemaris species holding still at all, I know they must alight to sleep and it got kind of chilly that previous night, but it was also late enough (with enough full sun) that the moth should have been well-awake and warm by that point. It remained in place long enough for several close portraits and detail shots, and even while I was removing old, dead blossom clusters, but then was gone when I turned back during this task. I’m glad it stayed long enough at least.

And then, much later:

pair of juvenile green treefrogs Dryophytes cinereus perched on empty planter
A pair of tiny juvenile green treefrogs (Dryophytes cinereus) were hanging out together on a planter on the front walk in the evening, and very nicely got together in the frame as I was shooting. From the size difference, I would say that they were different broods, but the largest (in the back) wasn’t even half adult size – nothing handy for scale, though the planter wall itself is only 10mm thick, if that helps. Which means the foreground one could perch comfortably on your thumb.

Amusingly, I rotated the planter gently to try and achieve a head-on view of both, but they remained oriented the same way, turning as the pot did to keep facing in their original directions. It’s counter to expectations, because they were both sitting there unmoving without any apparent focus, but they both definitely wanted to be facing that way. Pardon me.