Hummingbird Clearwing Moth
Hemaris thysbe
Hummingbird Clearwing Moth · Brooklyn Botanic Garden · 24 August 2025
A Hummingbird Clearwing hovering at flowers in the August border, doing exactly what it is usually mistaken for. It is a hawkmoth of gardens and forest edges across eastern North America, flying by day, and the source of most reports of tiny hummingbirds in gardens across the region.
The giveaway is the clear, scale-free patches on the wings, absent on any actual hummingbird. The wings start out fully scaled like any other moth's; the scales rub off on the first flight, which is why the "clear wing" only appears after the moth has been flying for a day or two.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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