Hummingbird Clearwing Moth - David Mathre Photography

Sunday (21-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. My back is feeling a lot better. The lower back/lumbar back-brace wrap seems to be working. It forces me to sit up straight and pushes the belly in. Bottom line, exercise and lose some weight… The high was 97 °F with a heat index of 117 °F according to my personal weather station. I went out for a bit around noon with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm lens. Each day there are more and more butterflies. They are mainly attracted to the pink and red Zinnia flowers. Today there were Spicebush and Tiger Swallowtails, Monarchs, and a small Duskywing (?). There also were several Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) moths.

Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) butterfly on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (David J Mathre)

Tiger Swallowtail butterfly on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (David J Mathre)

Monarch butterfly on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (David J Mathre)

Horace's Duskywing (Erynnis horatius) ? butterfly on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (David J Mathre) — Horace’s Duskywing (Erynnis horatius) ? butterfly on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (David J Mathre)

Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) Moth. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) moth feeding on a pink Zinnia flower. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) moth in flight. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Daily Power Use (82.6 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (70.2 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sunny, hot, and humid outside which kept the WaterFurnace geothermal HVAC system busy (~40 kWh). The geothermal heat pump system was able to maintain the indoor temperature even on this hottest day of the year. Beginning a bit before noon the heat pump ran continuously, and for much of the afternoon into the evening in the 2nd stage (high-speed mode). There were clouds in the morning and later in the afternoon limiting the amount of solar power generated — so I used 12 kWh more than was generated.

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Friday (19-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. My back still hurts and it continues to be hot and humid outside. The high was 93 °F with a heat index of 113 °F according to my personal weather station. I was only out for a short time, but still was able to capture images of Painted Lady, Tiger Swallowtail, and Monarch butterflies. Today only one type of Clearwing moths — the Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe). I saw a large hoverfly on a Sunflower. The hoverflies look like bees. There were also many Bumblebees working the flowers.

Painted Lady butterfly on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 VR lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

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

Monarch butterfly on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 VR lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe). Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Hoverfly on a Sunflower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 VR lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Hoverfly on a leaf. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 VR lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Bumble Bee on a Cosmos Flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 VR lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Power Use (72.5 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (71.5 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sunny, hot, and humid outside which kept the GeoThermal HVAC system busy (28 kWh). I also did a load of laundry (3.7 kWh) and dishes (~2.5 kWh). Still the Solar Panels almost kept up with only a 1 kWh deficit for the day.

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Thursday (18-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. My back still hurts and it continues to be hot and humid outside. I only went out for a short time with an even lighter kit than yesterday — Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens. Tiger and Spicebush Swallowtail, Monarch, and Skipper (?) butterflies. Two types of Clearwing Moths — Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) and Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis). The deer were out later in the afternoon before the heavy thunderstorm (2.24″, 57 mm)

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

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

Skipper (?) Butterfly. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe). Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis). 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 (53.4 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (34.3 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Cloudy most of the day progressing to heavy rain in the afternoon. So I ended up using 19 kWh more energy that the solar panels could produce.

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Thursday (18-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. My back still hurts and it continues to be hot and humid outside. I only went out for a short time with an even lighter kit than yesterday — Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens. Nikon discontinued this camera and lens, but I have found the camera and telephoto/zoom combination to be excellent for travel and bird photography. At 300 mm its field of view is equivalent to 810 mm on a full frame camera. The combination weighs just over 1 kg (2.2 lbs) vs. 7 kg (15.4 lbs) for a Nikon D5 camera and 800 mm f/5.6 lens. With the lens VR (vibration reduction) and fast focus it is easy to use hand held. Using the Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens I discovered that I have two types of Clearwing moths visiting my wildflower meadow. Until today I only thought I was seeing the Hummingbird Clearwing moth (Hemaris thysbe). There were several working the Zinnia flowers, and I noticed one was slightly smaller and appeared to a a brighter yellow back. While reviewing the images it was clear that it was different, and after doing some online searches found that the new one is a Snowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis). The Hummingbird Clearwing has lighter colored (or white) legs vs. the Snowberry Clearwing has black legs. The Snowberry Clearwing also has a black band that goes through its eyes.

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) feeding on a pink Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Snowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis) feeding on a pink Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

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Three-Years Ago (24-August-2015) — New Jersey

Summertime Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve.

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth on a Thistle Bloom at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 300 mm f/4 VR lens. Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CC.

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth feeding on on Thistle flowers. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)