Misty winter morning on the bank of the river Oise. Thiérache, France.
As it sips nectar from a creeping thistle flower with its long proboscis, the hummingbird hawk moth hovers with its body suspended motionless in the air and its wings flapping almost too fast to see. To cope with the demands of hover flight, hawk moths have evolved thermoregulation—they are warm-blooded.
A young beech tree (Fagus sylvatica) catches a scarce ray of sunlight beneath the dense canopy of the Regnaval forest.