Discovery Journal Topics

Now that summer has really kicked in and the prairie wildflowers are in full bloom, the snowberry clearwing has been a regular visitor to our backyard. Clearwing moths are frequently referred to as hummingbird moths because of their ability to hover over flowers as they seek nectar. Visually, they resemble a cross between a hummingbird and a bumble bee.

On our morning walk, we happened to see a Hummingbird Clearwing taking nectar from a Swamp Milkweed near the pond. While we have seen the Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis) several times this year, this is the first Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) sighting of the year. I thought this might be a good opportunity to illustrate how to differentiate the two species.