Paying (too much) Attention: Hemaris Diffinis

Observing what goes in and around the garden is important; a gardener can often catch big problems when they are still small and hence turn potential disasters into inconveniences.

HOWEVER…….

If one isn’t careful, observations can become work stopping distractions if curiosity overcomes a scheduled task list.

Yesterday I was deadheading blooms and watering parched blueberries when I noticed a small hummingbird… wait, no, a large bumblebee….wait no… what the heck is that thing???

I stalked the skittish creature hovering over flowers of all types and followed the little guy from bed to bed until I managed to catch some half way decent photos.

It turns out this guy is a hemaris diffinis, aka “snowberry clearwing moth” or “bumblebee moth”. Odd little thing, he never landed; he only hovered while tapping the flowers for nectar. I found it interesting but not quite to the extent Bill Oehlke does. 😉

Edit: I sent a link to Mr Oehlke after his site confirmed the identity of this moth; he promptly responded and confirmed that it was in fact hemaris diffinis and that he would like to post the pictures and the sighting in his pages. Cool eh?

That’s all.