What the heck have I captured. I have never seen this one before. While shooting some flowers this afternoon, I spotted this critter flying from flower to flower at a furious pace. I would guess that the body is about 1.5 inches long, certainly less than 2 inches. At first, from a distance, I thought it was a small humming bird but when I got closer I decided that was wrong. After looking at the images on the computer I am completely baffled. I am in Northwestern Wisconsin and these where shot at about 3:00 PM.
Please excuse the poor quality of the images. These are 100% crops of 3 different angles. As fast as this thing was flitting around I was happy to even get a focus lock.
Thanks in advance for looking and hopefully giving me an id.
It actually is an insect, a butterfly. The french name is "Sphinx Colibri" (Colibri is the french name for hummingbird ), latin name : Hemaris thysbe - so I guess the english name is "Hummingbird Clearwing Moth" or "Common Clearwing" (google). They are very fast, and tough to get good shots from !
You were right and wrong when you first guessed it was a hummer. The critter flitting about sucking nectar is none other than a hummingbird moth. More here.
), latin name : Hemaris thysbe - so I guess the english name is "Hummingbird Clearwing Moth" or "Common Clearwing" (google). They are very fast, and tough to get good shots from !