I don’t like insects. I know that I’m not alone, many other people fell a certain disliking for this rather mysterious little monsters, which have undeniably their own important role in the delicate natural balance (except mosquitoes, they have no reasons to justify their existence, but this is another story), but are like aliens. Maybe it’s because they are too small to make us easily familiar with their features and their aspect, or maybe it’s because they are often source of itch and pricking. Obviously the majority of them are quite harmless, but my distrust for them has always conditioned me. On the other hand there are many other people who are fascinated by them, not only professional entomologists.
One of the fundamental components of friendship is accepting spontaneously each other’s oddities, or at least what appears an oddity to us. One of my dearest friends adores insects and we often joke about her passion and we gently tease each other.
Usually I stay away from insect as much as I can, but living in the countryside, in a house with a rather large garden, imposes on me a necessary cohabitation with a lot of different kinds of more or less annoying little fellows. Nevertheless they would never be favourite subjects for my photos. But I feel like making an exception here, not only to confirm the rule, but to exchange a wing of friendly complicity with my friend. I know she will smile.
This hummingbird hawk-moth, as far as I know, are relatively rare in America, so it’s possible that my friend, who lives in Canada, has never seen it “live”, but I’m sure she knows a lot of things about it. I find it quite funny, because definitely it reminds me of a hummingbird, which I have never seen in reality, since these birds don’t exist in my country and so on, and so on, like a circle.
Anyway the photo is just average, but it was not easy to capture a little thing which flaps its wings so fast.

So this is for you, Christine.