I participated in a bioblitz last weekend, one in which we tried to document as many species as possible in a 24-hour period. I really enjoyed it! My very favorite species was this:
Hummingbird clearwing moth (Hemaris thysbe)
Hummingbird clearwing moth! I never did get the perfect shot I was hoping for, but I’ve been dying to see one and this was my first opportunity. There they were, nectaring at the pickerel weed along some small ponds. That alone made the experience absolutely worth it, though I also got to see some friends and spent part of two days playing with bugs. Not a bad way to spend a weekend!
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The Dragonfly Woman 
Glad you shared that picture anyway – the curled up proboscis is cute! Bioblitzes are hard work but very satisfying. :)
Bioblitzes ARE hard, but I got a t shirt and a lunch out of it, not to mention a lot of nice photos of bugs and the warm fuzzy feeling you get for doing something worthwhile for someone else. Considering how much I enjoy being outside, it was totally worth it!
A t-shirt! Woo hoo! :)
It’s a great one! :)
Wow!! Think I have a new favourite to add to my list. And that is a lovely shot!!
Thanks! They’re wonderful moths, so they’re definitely on my list of favorites.
Beautiful shot of the clearwing. I know from personal experience how tought they are to photograph. Sounds like a fun weekend.
It was great! And glad you’ve had the experience of photographing these little guys too. They ARE hard, but still not quite as bad as photographing flying dragonflies. At least they’ll stay in one place for a few seconds!
Beautiful shot..
Thank you so much!
Are these the same as sphingidae or hawk moths?
They are in the family Sphingidae, so yes, they’re related to the hawk moths. They’re a great group of insects!
The clearwings do love pickerelweed. There is a patch of pickerelweed in one of our local parks and I can almost without fail find one or more clearwings nectaring on any given day during the right season.
Nice! I hadn’t ever known that the pickerelweed was popular with the clearwings, but it was exciting to find them there! We have pickerelweed at work, so I might get to see more.