Hummingbird Clearwing

Fascinating facts about the Hummingbird Clearwing

• A moth that looks like a hummingbird—and fools them. The Hemaris thysbe has transparent wings, a long proboscis, and hovers in front of flowers at dusk just like its feathered look-alike. The resemblance is so close that ornithologists sometimes mistake sightings for actual hummingbirds, yet this insect is 100% moth, complete with antennae and a fuzzy body. It's evolution solving the same nectar-feeding problem two wildly different ways.
• The clearwing can visit 40 flowers in under five minutes, accelerating and braking with the kind of precision that would demand a bigger brain than it actually has. Its nervous system processes the world fast enough to dodge spiders' webs mid-flight and map a route through a cluttered garden without collision. Scale for scale, a hummingbird moth's agility per unit of body weight outmatches a fighter pilot's G-forces.
• Its wings beat 80 times per second during a hover—fast enough to make the blur look like the transparency it actually is. That speed consumes oxygen at a metabolic rate comparable to a marathon runner, meaning the clearwing must eat almost constantly during its active hours to stay alive. Skip nectar for just a few hours and this insect starves.
• The proboscis coils like a watch spring when not in use, tucked beneath the moth's head. When unfurled, it can stretch nearly as long as the insect's body to probe deep flowers other insects cannot reach. This drinking straw is studded with sensory hairs that taste pollen and nectar chemistry on contact, guiding the moth to the richest blooms.
• Unlike its hummingbird namesake, the clearwing migrates southward in late summer to overwinter in the southern United States and Mexico, then returns north each spring. Individuals spotted in Canada in June were likely hundreds of kilometres away just weeks earlier. This two-way journey means a single moth experiences three continent-scaled seasons in one year.

At a glance

About the Hummingbird Clearwing

In the warm, golden light of a summer's day, the Hummingbird Clearwing dances through the air, its iridescent wings beating at a hypnotic pace as it sips nectar from a tapestry of colorful flowers. With its rapid, darting movements, this diminutive creature embodies the very essence of joy and abandon, its transparent wings glimmering like stained glass as it flits from bloom to bloom. As it hovers, its long, extendable tongue probes the depths of each flower, gathering the sweet rewards that fuel its whirlwind existence.

Discover more wildlife