Tag: Clearwing Hummingbird Moth

Tuesday (16-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. The wildflower meadows I planted spring are now in bloom and attracting lots and lots of bee, bumblebees, butterflies, hummingbird clearwing moths, and birds. Each attracted to different types, and even colors of flowers. Today I went out with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens with a 2.0 TC-E III teleconverter (effective 600 mm f/5.6). Not quite as heavy as the 600 mm f/4, but still heavy. Rather than just hand-holding, I used a mono-pod to help stabilize the setup. I was looking to get higher resolution images. Even in bright sunlight, it was slow to focus (lots of hunting). The new butterfly for the day is some type of Skipper. The Monarch butterflies prefer the red and pink Zinnia flowers (and an Orange Marigold). The Hummingbird Clearwing moths prefer the pink Zinnia flowers. Before there were as many Zinnias, they were also attracted to the pink Cosmos flowers (now ignored).

Skipper? butterfly feeding on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens + 2.0 TC-EIII teleconverter (DAVID J MATHRE)
Skipper? butterfly feeding on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens + 2.0 TC-EIII teleconverter (DAVID J MATHRE)


Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.


Daily Power Use (56.8 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (81.5 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Lots of sun but it is getting warmer outside keeping the Geothermal HVAC busy. Still generated 25 kWh more power that I used for the day. Rain predicted for tomorrow (needed in the wildflower meadow) and even hotter for the weekend.

Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather

Monday (15-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. More images of Clearwing Hummingbird moths in flight. In two of the images you can also see a bumblebee in flight to compare the relative sizes. Butterflies include Tiger Swallowtail, Monarch, Painted Lady, Orange Sulphur, and either a Duskywing or Sootywing.


Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.


Orange Sulfur Butterfly (Colias eurytheme). Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Orange Sulfur Butterfly (Colias eurytheme). Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Juvenal's Duskywing, Horace's Duskywing, or Common Sootywing (best guess the latter). Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Juvenal’s Duskywing, Horace’s Duskywing, or Common Sootywing (best guess the latter). Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Power Use (51.2 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (86.14 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Lots of sun so generated 35 kWh more power that I used for the day.

Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather

Sunday (14-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. The Clearwing Hummingbird moths found the back wildflower meadow where the dwarf Zinnia flowers are starting to bloom. I saw at least three of the Hummingbird moths feeding off the Zinnia flowers. To be different today I am just showing images of the Hummingbird moths in flight.

Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Power Use (60.5 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (74.81 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Not quite as much sun out today, but it was still hot out and the Geothermal HVAC system was on continuously most of the the afternoon into evening. Still generated more power that I’m using. The weekly summary is 455 kWh solar power generated and 392 kWh power used for a weekly surplus of 63 kWh.

Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather

Monday (08-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

It rained most of the morning. Later in the afternoon, I did see a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth (Hemaris thysbe) in my Wildflower Meadow. Right now it is attracted to the Pink Cosmos and Zinnia flowers. I am trying different camera/lens combinations to get the best images of the Hummingbird Moth. Today I used a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (exclusively at 400 mm).


Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.




Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.




Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.




Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.




Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.




Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.




Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.


Daily Power Use (45.5 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (37.9 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. It rained all morning, and the sun didn’t come out until midday so the power generation was low. The temperatures stayed low, so the geothermal HVAC system didn’t need to work as hard to keep the indoor cool. But, I still used 8.6 kWh more power than produced by the solar panels.

Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather

Sunday (07-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Butterflies, Bees, and Clearwing Hummingbird Moths. Today, the Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly was missing its tails and some of its rear wing. The Black Swallowtail Butterfly (NJ State Butterfly) was also missing one of its tails. I also saw a Red Admiral and Painted Lady Butterfly. One of the Clearwing Hummingbird Moths showed up. It spent most of its time feeding on the Pink Cosmos and Pink Zinnia flowers


Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.


Daily Power Use (59.1 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (64.15 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. The sun was out long enough to generate more power than the geothermal HVAC system needed to keep the house cool.

Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather