Not Sunbird & Not Hummingbird

At last, the true identity of the little hovering visitor.  It is a Hummingbird Hawk Moth!(Macroglossum stellatarum)

No wonder we were all mistaken.  It is called the Hummingbird Moth because it really looks like one.  But on closer observation, the antennae and proboscis immediately gives it away.  This time, i am prepared and after taking about ten shots, i managed to find a few decent pics which shows more details of this wonderfully deceptive insect.  I am using the Panasonic Lumix G1(on built-in flash, Sports mode and auto-focus).

I am of course disappointed that it turns out to be not a bird but a moth instead but this only goes to show how successful this little insect is at keeping up its deception.

But the good thing that came out of this encounter is that i learned how to take pics of insects in flight instead of the usual stationary flower.  In fact, the previous pics were all taken with my macro lens fitted - no wonder there was not a single useful pic.

It is a little tricky trying to photograph this moth because it comes at about 7.20 pm when the sky is getting dark.  The timing is almost the same everytime.  That's the general comment about wildlife - if you see it at a spot today, take note of the time cos tomorrow it will be there at the same time.

7.20 pm is a bit late for a bird - I should have known. 

These are some of the clear shots:

I happen to take the underside of this moth too.

This is another shot with the wings on the upsweep.

Humming Bird

It is definitely not a sunbird!!

I am sorry i did not manage to get a clear pic of this little bird.  I was so excited that i forgot to set it to high ISO.  The bird is slightly longer than an inch and was ziping around so fast that i had a hard time catching up with it.  The wings are a blurr but the body can still be vaguely visible.If you compare the bird to the size of the "shui mei" flower then you get a good idea how small this bird is.  I hope nobody would think it is an insect and bring out the baygon. 

 

Can you see how small this little bird is.  It is the size of a bee!!

Purple Skin Sweet Potato

I believe this is known as Japanes Sweet Potato is supermarkets here.  I replanted the vine about 4 months ago and the vines were soon going everywhere so i decided i better harvest whatever there is and replant again.

I grow the vine in a planter so the vines have nowhere else to deposit the tubers except inside the planter.  So when the time
for harvesting comes i simply tip the planter over and look for the tuber.  The down side of this method is that the soil soon loses its nutrients and needs to be replaced. 

I used to plant the vines directly in the ground but what happened was i got a lot of small tubers and it was really difficult to dig them out of the ground.  So i thought i rather have one large tuber than 20 to 30 small ones after 3-4 months..

 

The leaves are also edible but if you cut away too many then the vines won't produce big tubers.