Cindy Burkhardt had been watching a sphinx moth caterpillar in her garden for several days, but then it disappeared. Soon thereafter, she saw another trundling across a dirt road on Rabbit Mountain.

If you are lucky, you might spot one or both of the moths featured here in natural areas close to Santa Barbara. By planting suitable native plants, you may be able to attract these beauties to your ...

Readers have sent photographs of small critters hovering over flowers, as if they were sipping nectar like hummingbirds. But they’re not hummingbirds. Instead, they are insects variously called sphinx ...

Moth Week is a perfect time to talk about the insects' impact on the garden. A most detested caterpillar foe to our tomatoes, the tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta), becomes a lovely hawk moth in its ...

No doubt about it, sphinx moths are extraordinary; extinction is forever, and it would be tragic to lose such a remarkable group of moths While watering my rock garden, I inadvertently flushed an ...

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 ...

Late August is a time of early harvest in the garden, early migrants and an earlier sunset. The autumnal equinox is still a month away and warm days persist, but the season is moving on. This is also ...

LAS CRUCES – Caterpillars of the white-lined sphinx moth are out in droves this year, crawling on sidewalks and across streets around Doña Ana County, but don’t worry, they’re harmless. The ...

While watering my rock garden, I inadvertently flushed an Achemon sphinx moth, Eumorpha achemon, which flew less than 20 feet to clutch onto a Stella D’Oro lily, where it stayed for the remainder of ...