Somewhat uncommon, I have seen our local species only a couple of times, most recently in 2016<\/a>. It is the Rocky Mountain Clearwing (Hemaris thetis<\/i>). Four different species of hummingbird moths are found in North America, but sources suggest that thetis<\/i> is the only one found in British Columbia.\u00a0<\/p>\n It is again the time of year to watch for this strange creature, so yesterday I went looking. What I spotted, was clearly a hummingbird moth. It was out in the daytime and sipping nectar as it hovered over flowers. However, it was distinctly different than the thetis<\/em> normally found in BC. What was it, and how did it get here?<\/p>\n I start with a picture of thetis<\/em>, a Rocky Mountain Clearwing I took four years ago so as to show the differences with this year’s moth.\u00a0 This is the moth seen yesterday. It behaves the same way as thetis<\/em> as it hovers over a flower sipping nectar. Further, it is about the same size, but its body and wing pattern is different. When this blog was first posted. I thought yesterday’s moth was an eastern hummingbird moth. I was wrong. It is a Yellow-banded Day Sphinx Moth (Proserpinus flavofasciata<\/em>), something labeled a hawk moth. However, this hawk moth behaves much like the hummingbird moth: it hovers over flowers as it sips nectar. Here is a side view of the moth sipping nectar. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The hummingbird moth has been billed by Nature Canada as one of Canada’s coolest creatures. Although a moth, it is out during the daytime when it sips nectar by hovering over flowers like a tiny hummingbird. Somewhat uncommon, I … Continue reading
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