UFO in my yard!

OK - I think I may be safe with this one as my yard *is* in the north east and it does resemble the backcountry more than a garden...

Green square for the first person with a correct ID of THIS visitor

I actually know what it is!

Bob

Clearwing Hawk Moth? (just a guess)

^MtnMike^

Bumblebee moth.

On the right track - but not close enough

Clearwing Hummingbird Moth

We have a winner!

It is indeed a Hummingbird Moth (Hemaris thysbe) and, unlike most moths, are out and about during the day. The wings beat very fast and they fly and feed very much like a hummingbird, hence the name.

Bob

HikerBob said:

We have a winner!

It is indeed a Hummingbird Moth (Hemaris thysbe) and, unlike most moths, are out and about during the day. The wings beat very fast and they fly and feed very much like a hummingbird, hence the name.

Bob

Click to expand...

I thought it was a hummingbird moth but would never have gotten the clearwing part. Where do you get to see these so regularly!?

-Dr. Wu

Wu - they are frequent visitors to my yard in Western Mass. When I snapped this one on Saturday there were at least four of them buzzing around the phlox.

I get hummingbirds too and the first time I saw one of these I thought it was just another humming bird as the flight and coloration is very similar. The wings don't beat quite as fast though so the drone is slightly lower pitched.

Bob

dr_wu002 said:

...Where do you get to see these so regularly!?

-Dr. Wu

Click to expand...

There are also alot of these on Martha's Vineyard.

And as a post script, here's the real thing

Thanks for this. I saw something like this at my house a couple of days ago and it was driving me crazy. I thought it might have been a hummingbird but it actually landed on the flower which is what an insect does, but it was huge. It also had antenna which of course a hummingbird doesn't. It also seemed to have the ability to hover a little like a hummingbird. I had never seen anything like this. My son and wife were with me and we were all stumped. I think that this is what I saw or at least very similar because I think the coloring was a little different.

Thanks again.
Keith

It is good to see that you have good birds that have not fallen in with a bad crowd like this guy

dr_wu002 said:

I thought it was a hummingbird moth but would never have gotten the clearwing part. Where do you get to see these so regularly!?

-Dr. Wu

Click to expand...

Wow, I just saw one for the first time 2 days ago. Dang, I was too slow to get the green!

They are frequent visitors to Delaware county in NY.

I saw one a couple of years ago and wondered what it was. Thanks!

It just dawned on me that I saw a few of them when I was out picking blueberries in the woods behind my house the other day. Now I know what they were. Thanks!

My mother and sister planted a butterfly bush in our front yard a couple of years ago. We have had a couple of them cute little things buzzing around it since. I know "cute" isnt something associated with moths, but they sure do look neat!
Brian

Pennsylvania

We just saw one here in Pennsylvania the other day. We thought it was a baby hummingbird.