Snowberry Clearwing Moth - David Mathre Photography

Saturday (20-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. My back is feeling somewhat better. I got a lower back/lumbar back brace wrap. It forces me to sit up straight, pushes the belly in, and I can now bend over and touch my toes. It has been on for a day and I feel much better. The high was 97 °F with a heat index of 116 °F according to my personal weather station. I was only out for a short time, but still was able to capture images of Tiger and Spicebush Swallowtail Butterflies, Silver-spotted and Peck’s (?) Butterflies, and Monarch Butterflies. Today, I only saw the Snowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis). There were also many Bumblebees working the flowers.

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

Silver-spotted and Peck’s (?) Butterflies. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

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

Snowberry Clearwing Moths (Hemaris diffinis). (Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

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

Daily Power Use (76.6 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (77.3 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sunny, hot, and humid outside which kept the GeoThermal HVAC system busy (~40 kWh). I also did a ran the dishwasher (~2.5 kWh). The Solar Panels kept up with a 0.7 kWh surplus 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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Six-Years Ago (28-August-2010) — New Jersey

Summertime Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve.

Snowberry Clearwing (Hummingbird) Moth on Thistle Bloom. Sourland Mountain Preserve, Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 200 mm f/2 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/4, 1/800 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 8, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CC.

Clearwing Hummingbird Moth on Thistle Bloom. Sourland Mountain Preserve, Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 200 mm f/2 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/4, 1/800 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 8, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CC. (David J Mathre) — Snowberry Clearwing (Hummingbird) Moth on Thistle Bloom. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 200 mm f/2 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/4, 1/800 sec). (David J Mathre)

Sunday (21-August-2016) — New Jersey

Summertime Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve.

I am beginning to think that I have been taking pictures of two different species of Clearwing or Hummingbird Moths. So looking things up on the web did indicate that there are two similar Hummingbird Moths. Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) and Snowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis). According to the references the Hummingbird Clearwing moth is a bit bigger. Coloration varies between individuals, but typically the moth is olive green and burgundy on its back, and white or yellow and burgundy on the underside. Its wings are transparent with a reddish-brown border. It has light-colored legs, which combined with the lack of striping on the underside is diagnostic. The Snowberry Clearwing moth is a bit smaller. The thorax is golden or olive-golden in color, abdomen is black dorsally with 1-2 segments just prior to terminal end being yellow to various extent, while black ventrally. The legs also tend to be quite dark and there is a black mask running across the eye and along the sides of the thorax. It can be difficult to see the differences in the field, and I have to go by examining the images when I get back to my computer. Even then, I am not sure I am right all of the time.

Today it was mainly the Snowberry Clearwing Moth (with black legs). I am going to have to do some more investigating. The images from the walkabout in the Sourland Mountain Preserve this morning were taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 300 mm f/4 lens. A compromise kit that is not too heavy that I can still hand-hold and provides high quality images that I can crop.

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