'Snowberry Clearwing Moth'

You might have never seen one of these…this is a Snowberry Clearwing moth (Hemaris diffinis) feeding on a butterfly bush (buddlea‘Black Knight ’ )...yes, it flies and acts just like a hummingbird, and notice that the wings have no scales, so they are transparent … it’s about 2” long, and a 2.5” wingspan…very tough to focus on, this little guy was always moving, always hovering, never sitting…notice how it is anchoring itself with its feet, but has no weight on its legs..even though the antennae look like a butterfly’s, and it flies and feeds during the day, it is a moth…note how it fans the hairs on it’s rear end to act as a ‘tail’...

Also notice that in this (and other pics I took) that the body and legs are in good focus (perfectly still), while the wings and antennae are blurred…they seem to make hovering trim adjustments by moving their antennae rapidly…I love these things…nature is so amazing…

The clearwings are in the same family as the usually larger Sphinx and Hawk moths, but are a distinct species

~ use large view, please ~

Kent Island, Md. US
6/23/09
Nikon P80, auto macro

thanks for the look, my friends!