Phlox Pheeding Sphinx (say aloud 3 times fast)

I SO ****ING HATE FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY!

But .... it was the only way to get these hand-held shots in the dark
tonight.

As I was coming back from putting out the first-round (of dozens) of
nightly grub for an assorted friendly menagerie of some 50-70 wild
raccoons, foxes, and opossums, I spotted this moth feeding by the house. I
wasn't used to the flash on this superzoom camera, having never used its
flash before, so this image was rather underexposed. Later, less
interesting shots were properly exposed once I learned to use the 13 levels
of TTL-metered flash-output, but this one had the nicest composition.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/4822609827_0e86944322_b.jpg

Though I'll probably use this one for ID purposes.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4098/4822609831_4500176d31_b.jpg

There's another with a full-on well-exposed dorsal view, but it looks like
it was sitting on the flower instead of in-flight. Good for ID-ing, but
lousy to show its behavior at the time.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4079/4822609833_991c46c7b8_b.jpg

Odd, the closest I can come to ID-ing it is the Laurel Sphinx, but it
doesn't quite seem to match. Either way, this is a new species for my
insect archives.


Now, what was it that all you lying, deceitful, and condescending
gutter-**** DSLR-TROLLS were saying about "P&S" camera shutter-lag and not
being able to auto-focus fast enough in dim lighting? It was pitch dark out
when I shot these tonight. Auto-focusing by the camera's dim focus-assist
LED light alone, from 7-10 feet away.

[As always, high JPG compression applied to entertain the thieves and
armchair-photographer trolls.]