MAY 18-C-Sect.Qxd (Page 1)

THE MUSKOKAN SECOND SECTION THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2007. That’s not a hummingbird in your garden Hummingbird moths have a distinctive look, but telling the species apart is a task for an expert t is that time of year again when I get size and colour. reports from people who have The humming- Iobserved a strange-looking hum- bird clearwing, mingbird at the flowers in their gardens. Hemaris thysbe, They mention that these hummingbirds is the largest look a little smaller than most they have with a wingspan seen and add the fact they did not know of 4 to 5.5 cm. that hummingbirds visited flowers at The slender dusk, well after the sun has set. clearwing, Sometimes they mention it looks like a Hemaris gracilis, large bee, which is getting closer to the has a wingspan fact that it is not a bird at all, but an of 4 to 4.5 cm. insect. These strange-looking humming- and the snowber- birds, bees and other insects collecting ry or bumblebee nectar from flowers in gardens during clearwing, the day and early evening are really day- Hemaris diffinis, has a wingspan of 3.5 to flying moths of the sphinx or hawk moth 5 cm. family that we refer to as hummingbird It is not easy to tell them apart when MISTAKEN IDENTITY. The snowberry clearwing moth (above) and the hummingbird moth moths. they’re flying. Even when you have one (left) are two of a number of moths that are often mistaken for a hummingbirds or bees. They have clear wings and a colour pat- in hand, they’re not easy to distinguish Photos by Al Sinclair and Bob Bowles tern that resembles hummingbirds or without practice. bumblebees. There are three species in The hummingbird clearwing has the legs. The slender clearwing has red- wings feed on blueberries and laurel in our area and they all are very similar in whitish to pale grey dorsal surfaces on dish legs and the snowberry clearwing the heath family. Adult moths eat nectar has black legs and black on the abdomen. from pickerelweed, blackberry, raspber- The most common in this area is the ry, dandelion, orange hawkweed and snowberry clearwing, which has fewer phlox. scales on the wings and a line across the Caterpillars of the snowberry clear- abdomen that is not straight. The slen- wings feed on snowberries, honeysuckles, der clearwing has a reddish-brown line bush honeysuckles and dogbane while on the ventral surface of the thorax adults eat nectar on flowers including beneath each wing base; the snowberry snowberries, honeysuckles, violets, clearwing has black lines in this area hawkweeds, thistles and lilacs. while the hummingbird clearwing lacks Some of the world’s largest moth reddish-brown or black lines. species belong to the sphinx or hawk The hummingbird clearwing should moth family, Sphingid. They can hover in have more of a jagged edge along the the air with their long, narrow wing and scales of the forewing while the slender thick bodies and even move forward and clearwing has a more even margin along backward while extending their long the scales. tongue (proboscis) into the corolla tubes Hummingbird clearwing caterpillars of garden flowers and sucking out the feed on viburnums, snowberry, honey- sweet nectar. Sphinx moths have the suckles, plums and hawthorns. The longest tongues of all moth species (over adults sip nectar from many species of a foot long for some species) and are very flowers. important as garden pollinators. The caterpillars of the slender clear- (Continued on page B8).

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