Birding Hocking Hills in Southeastern Ohio
I found this furry-looking Hummingbird Clearwing
Moth (Hemaris thysbe) at the Clear Creak Metro Park
on the Creekside Meadow trail.
Hummingbird Clearwing Moths are
often called “Common Clearwings.”
I love his little curled-up proboscis.
In my new National Audubon Society “Field Guide
to Insects and Spiders,” I read that the wings are
“plum-red” to “brownish black” at first, but the scales
drop off after the first flight leaving the clear areas.
Hummingbird Clearwing Moths can be found
around forest edges, meadows, and cultivated
flower gardens. They like nectaring on
Phlox and Bee Balm.
Check out this fellow. He’s smaller than a Common Clearwing and is called a Snowberry Clearwing Hummingbird Moth.
Nectaring on Bee Balm, I found this Snowberry
Clearwing Hummingbird Moth (Hemaris diffinis)
at the meadow's edge on the Prairie Warbler trail.
With such an interesting little
masked face, he's hard to resist.