Maine to Texas and Back to Wisconsin

Snowberry clearwing moth (Hemaris diffinis). 

Perhaps one of the most delightful insect visitors to your garden is the hummingbird moth. Several species of the genus Hemaris deserve this name and for very good reason. They fly and move just like hummingbirds. Like them, they can remain suspended in the air in front of a flower while they unfurl their long tongues and insert them in flowers to sip their nectar. They even emit an audible hum like hummingbirds. Quite often inexperienced garden visitors notice what they think is a tiny hummingbird fleeting among flowers such as bee balm (Monarda). They listen incredulously when one explains to them that what they just saw was not a bird but a moth.

Hummingbird moths are rather plump; the tip of their tail opens into a fan. They are usually of a rich reddish brown color, at least in part. Like all Lepidoptera their wings are covered by scales; some species lose many of the scales from patches on their wings, so they are called clearwing hummingbird moths. Like most moths they have a very long tongue which they carry rolled under their chins and that they use to reach the nectar of long-necked flowers. Such nectar is inaccessible to many other flower visitors, so it seems that these flowers prefer long tongued pollinators and try to keep the others away. 

These day-flying moths are widespread in North America. In the Old World, there are several species of hummingbird moths. Some of these species are closely related and all belong to the same genus, Hemaris. The British prefer to call them Bee Hawk-Moths. There are four species of hummingbird moths in North America. The most familiar ones are the Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis) and the Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe). They are both widespread throughout North America, with the former perhaps being more abundant in the west and the latter in the east. Like the majority of moths and butterflies, the adult hummingbird moths feed on nectar from a variety of flowers, but their larvae need more specific food plants, such as several species of honeysuckle, dogbane, or some members of the rose family such as hawthorn, cherries, and plums.

Credit:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/pollinators/pollinator-of-the-month/hummingbird_moth.shtml

Breeding and Nesting

Great Crested Flycatcher: Four to eight white to buff eggs marked with brown, olive, and lavender are laid in a nest filled and lined with grass, weeds, bark strips, rootlets, feathers, fur, snake skin, onion skin, and cellophane. Nest is usually built in a cavity, abandoned hole of another bird, or bird box.

Foraging and Feeding

Great Crested Flycatcher: Eats variety of large insects, including beetles, crickets, katydids, caterpillars, moths, and butterflies; also eats fruits and berries; forages by flying from a perch to snatch insects from foliage, mid-air, or on the ground.

Beautiful bird that northern cardinal. Sitting in the birch tree awaiting a chance at the feeder. Red and green almost like Christmas despite the summer weather. This guy has had some damage to his beak but otherwise pretty handsome. Despite the distance of 20 yards, an 800 mm lens can provide some nice detail.

The pair have returned this year to again use the nesting box we set up intended for a Wood duck couple.  They apparently like the extra room!  Per iBird Pro, although both parents will inspect potential sites, building of the nest is done almost entirely by the female, while the male closely guards its mate.  Cavities that are large enough in size and opening are the preferred nesting sites, whether naturally occurring or excavated by other species as well as use nesting boxes and other man-made structures.

A visit to Northeast Nebraska provided several firsts for me including Hudsonian Godwits on the farm where I grew up as well as numerous Northern Shovelers. Recent rain provided a great deal of standing water on many of the farms north of highway 20; similar to what I recall growing up in the late 50’s and early 60’s. Beautiful green grass and bright sunshine. A special pond on the “Home Place” where my father grew up and now cared for by my Uncle Gary and cousin Trish, provided great cover for many of the birds captured in the photos. An amazingly lucky sighting of 3 Female Wood Ducks high in the trees nearby while the males were waiting in the pond. A Cinnamon Teal was also a first for me and he was somehow hanging out the the Blue-winged Teals!

Another photographer noted an alligator family with mother and babies nearby. He has been watching the family and believes the babies were hatched in August 2023. Baby alligators (hatchlings) have a pointed “egg tooth” or a caruncle to help them break out of their shell. This tooth is soon lost after hatching. Hatchlings are about 8 inches long. A group of hatchlings is called a pod.

Large ibis with pink body and white upper back and neck. Bill is long, gray, and spatulate. Sexes are similar. Juvenile is white with a hint of pink and has yellow bill. Eats minnows, small crustaceans, bits of plants, and insects; forages by swishing its spoon-like bill from side to side in shallow, muddy water.

Just a few images from our visit. Regarding the Anhinga:

Anhinga pair in breeding plumage in Florida. Female on the left and male on the right (darker). The anhinga (Anhinga anhinga), sometimes called snakebird, darter, American darter, or water turkey, is a water bird of the warmer parts of the Americas. The origin of the name is apparent when swimming: only the neck appears above water, so the bird looks like a snake ready to strike. They do not have external nares (nostrils) and breathe solely through their epiglottis. This bird is often mistaken for the double-crested cormorant due to its similar size and shape, although the two species can be differentiated by their tails and bills.