Butterflies, Moths and Assorted Insects...

When on Rhodes and chasing for black pennant dragonflies, I came across an insect that was black and yellow and always flying.
It was flying in a dragonfly style and so fast that I couldn't recognize its shape and form.
So I went trying to shoot it in flight. And in the end I could get one on the ground.
So now I know those are scolia hirta, in German "Borstige Dolchwespe" (translated: "bristly dagger wasp" ;) )
These were the best in flight:
scolia_hirta_2022_01.JPGscolia_hirta_2022_02.JPG

This is the first on the ground:
scolia_hirta_2022_03.JPG

More to come...
 
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Very nice series, Maximilian.
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Look for Hemaris and depends where you took the photo you may have an easy ID...
Thank you.

Hemaris thysbe (I think).

A few better(?) images from the same set:

5D3_4753 - Copy.JPG5D3_4763 - Copy.JPG5D3_4727 - Copy.JPG
I've been one of the bigger 'honks' on this website for Canon's M bodies...and have, for a decade or so now, given serious thought to the subject of acquiring images with the aid of a viewfinder vs using an LCD screen. For all I know this has been discussed in detail already here...

I can distinctly recall an 'early' epiphany (for me) about a decade ago when I learned that 'taking pictures' at a rock concert, seated/standing two rows from the stage (widely varying lighting conditions)...was facilitated quite nicely without the aid of a viewfinder (using the tiny-and-stealthy Canon S95)...adjusting exposure compensation on-the-fly...constantly...for the better part of an hour (hundreds of images)...with constant monitoring of the rear-screen LCD. Viewing the LCD allowed examination of the entire image and stage...and the lighting conditions for much of the stage. It is almost as if half-an-arms-length distance between my eyes and the screen I was examining enabled me to be more aware of what was happening on-stage, including lighting changes. For printed images up to 8x10...it really worked...and I've never forgotten that.

But the images presented here (5DMkIII + 100-400II) were acquired using the optical viewfinder...and if I had been using my M6MkII instead of the full-frame 5D, I would have attached the electronic viewfinder--telephoto lens usage at the long end, at least in my hands, REQUIRES a viewfinder.

In this case, all I wanted to see was the 'target'...probably obvious to many reading this but not so much to me.
 
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Thank you.

Hemaris thysbe (I think).

A few better(?) images from the same set:

View attachment 204607View attachment 204608View attachment 204605
I've been one of the bigger 'honks' on this website for Canon's M bodies...and have, for a decade or so now, given serious thought to the subject of acquiring images with the aid of a viewfinder vs using an LCD screen. For all I know this has been discussed in detail already here...

I can distinctly recall an 'early' epiphany (for me) about a decade ago when I learned that 'taking pictures' at a rock concert, seated/standing two rows from the stage (widely varying lighting conditions)...was facilitated quite nicely without the aid of a viewfinder (using the tiny-and-stealthy Canon S95)...adjusting exposure compensation on-the-fly...constantly...for the better part of an hour (hundreds of images)...with constant monitoring of the rear-screen LCD. Viewing the LCD allowed examination of the entire image and stage...and the lighting conditions for much of the stage. It is almost as if half-an-arms-length distance between my eyes and the screen I was examining enabled me to be more aware of what was happening on-stage, including lighting changes. For printed images up to 8x10...it really worked...and I've never forgotten that.

But the images presented here (5DMkIII + 100-400II) were acquired using the optical viewfinder...and if I had been using my M6MkII instead of the full-frame 5D, I would have attached the electronic viewfinder--telephoto lens usage at the long end, at least in my hands, REQUIRES a viewfinder.

In this case, all I wanted to see was the 'target'...probably obvious to many reading this but not so much to me.
Looks like H. thysbe for me too... On other hand I have not much info about the rest of Hemaris in N. America (3 more I think?).
 
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