Late summer temperatures were still uncomfortable at lower elevations, but at nearly 5,000 feet the air had a distinct autumn feel as I enjoyed a late afternoon hike around Lake Cuyamaca.
I paused to watch a beautiful, but tattered swallowtail butterfly feeding on the bright purple tufts of cobweb thistles growing around the lake’s western edge.
As summer faded, the butterfly’s short life’s journey was nearly over, reminding me of a favorite inspirational quote, “The butterfly counts not months, but moments, and has time enough.”
I was pulled back to the moment when the movement of a hummingbird coming in for nectar caught my eye.
Instinctively lifting my camera, I was hoping for some good images of the feeding hummer as it briefly hovered in place.
As the image came into focus, I realized this was not a hummingbird, but rather a large, furry moth. Because of its size and mannerisms, it was easy to see how I was initially confused.
Moths are something we normally see at night, and it’s rare to see one as big as this guy.
But this was a white-lined sphinx moth, often referred to as a hummingbird or hawk moth because of its size and behavior.
This is also a crepuscular creature, meaning it is active in the twilight hours of dawn and dusk, in addition to nighttime activities.
On this fall-like afternoon, it was a special treat to enjoy an intimate visit with this striking moth as he uncurled his long proboscis to suck in nectar from the thistle blossoms.
I have lots of hummingbird photos, but this was a special treat.
A white-lined sphinx moth.
(Ernie Cowan / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Hovering in my viewfinder was this beautiful, bird-like moth with an overall brown color, broad white lines on the wings and body and large eyes. The head and upper body appeared to be covered by fur.
This is one of the most abundant moths in North America, with a range that extends from Central America to Southern Canada.
The body of this moth can be over 3 inches in length and the wingspan nearly 4 inches, which is about the size of some hummingbirds.
Unlike the hummingbird, however, the moth does not have a beak. Instead, it has a curled tongue that can be extended to reach deeply into flowers to extract nectar.
And despite their abundance, this month is not considered harmful since it will act as a pollinator.
Its larvae, however, is another story.
The sphinx month larvae are large, colorful caterpillars, frequently called tomato worms or horn worms and they have a voracious appetite.
The white-lined sphinx moth caterpillar has a long horn at the end of its tail, which is often mistaken for a stinger.
(Ernie Cowan / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
These caterpillars range from yellow to black with orange spots, green or yellow stripes and a long horn at the tail.
Some believe this horn to be a stinger, but it’s not, and the caterpillar is not harmful to humans. But they can be damaging to crops and spring wildflowers.
On good desert wildflower years, these are the caterpillars that march by the thousands through the fields of blooming sand verbena, decimating acres of flowers in just a few days.
But they do provide a high protein food source for migrating Swainson’s hawks and other resident raptors, so they are an important part of nature’s balance.
Historically, these large caterpillars also provided an excellent food source for Native American populations of the region.
The Cahuilla called these larvae Piyatem, and an 1884 article by naturalist William Green Wright describes the collection of white-lined sphinx moth caterpillars that were feeding like a vast army in fields of sand verbena.
“Another small army of Indians are out gathering them as though they were huckleberries, for use as food,” Wright wrote.
The heads were pinched off and many of the caterpillars were eaten on the spot, followed by a great evening feast of raw or roasted caterpillars. This was a common spring practice of the early people throughout the Colorado Desert.
Wright went on to report, “The larvae that are not consumed at the time are put upon the ground previously heated by fire, and thoroughly dried, when they are placed away whole, or pulverized into a meal.”
The drying process allowed them to be stored and eaten safely at later dates.
The white-lined sphinx moth has a life cycle that includes four phases, starting with eggs deposited on host plants at least twice during the spring and summer months.
Eggs will hatch into caterpillars that will feed for three to four weeks before forming a cocoon and then emerging as an adult moth in about 10 days. The adult lifespan is only 10 to 30 days.
Caterpillars that pupate into cocoons in the fall will overwinter until warmer spring temperatures arrive.
The evening shadows were long now, and my day in the field was done. But the white-lined sphinx moth was just beginning its nightly chores.
After all, it doesn’t have a lot of time, but time enough.
Cowan is a freelance columnist. Email ernie@packtrain.com or visit erniesoutdoors.blogspot.com.
