Hummingbird Clearwing Moths!

[Øivind Tøien]

I had my timing perfectly with me for my last house/dog sitting, as the lilacs on location were just coming out. I knew from a previous occasion that the Hummingbird Clearwing moths could possibly show up, and so they did! I captured 2-2.5K frames over several days. Lighting kept changing, and the Hummingbird Clearwings kept coming back. It was an immensely fun challenge that I just could not resist every time I passed by even after my first long session. At 10 frames per second this only amounted to about 4 minutes of pressed shutter button!  Of course a very large amount went directly to the bin - about 400 made it to jpgs. For almost all of them I used the 300mm f/4 PF on my D500. I experimented with shutter speed and found that 1/4000 second gave the best balance between freezing movements and noise, although I also tried a few up to 1/8000 second if lighting was good - first time I ever used these short shutter speeds. I also tried a few high speed and real time videos plus a few captures at 15 frames per second with my AW1. There was no problem getting close as long as they were on the lower branches.

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Link to a slow motion video captured at 400 frames per sec. playing back at 30 frames per second showing how the clearwing searches for an open petal:
https://otoien.zenfolio.com/img/s/v-11/o190588485/c1/p3919619872-215.mp4


Links to three short clips captured at normal speed just to show how quick and erratic they are, wings not really visible to the eye:
https://otoien.zenfolio.com/img/s/v-11/o190588485/c1/p3919620322-200.mp4

https://otoien.zenfolio.com/img/s/v-11/o190588485/c1/p3919620323-200.mp4

https://otoien.zenfolio.com/img/s/v-11/o190588485/c1/p3919620319-200.mp4

(There are also some older high speed videos in the same folder from 8 years ago at the same location.)

[Kim Pilegaard]

Very nice pictures/videos and story! I had the pleasure of having this moth in my garden last year, but it is a bit to early in the summer to find it here yet.

[Bent Hjarbo]

Thanks for sharing 

[Hugh_3170]

Great work - splendid effort in getting these.  And thanks for the background details.

[Anthony]

Beautiful captures, composition and colours.

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks all of you for the enthusiastic comments, I really enjoyed capturing these.

[ColinM]

Thanks for sharing these Oivind, youre really getting your eye in.

I got a reminder how hard it can be to capture insects in flight this week.
A lake near us had hundreds of Dragonflies. Because it has been over 30°C here, the really interesting ones never rested.

[Nasos Kosmas]

Very god job Oivid thank you

[golunvolo]

That looks very challenging and you got wonderful results.

   Thanks for sharing it!

[Matthew Currie]

The season is pretty well over here in Vermont, but the hummingbird moths, fortunately, love lilacs and rhododendrons.  They can be pretty hard to catch well, but I especially like their colorful tails.

[Akira]

These are incredible captures of the artwork of the nature.  Thank you for sharing!

[Bruno Schroder]

Waow, this is excellence at work ! Thanks for sharing, pictures and story.

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks all for further comments. I am really glad you enjoyed them.

Yes, dragonflies in flight is a challenge I have not mastered, Colin. I wish there were more of them around to prey on the mosquitoes that keep pestering me while attempting to capture dragonflies and other subjects! A note is that that some dragonflies species are perchers that regularly interrupt flight while other species are able to fly more continuously.

[beryllium10]

Add my appreciation to all the other comments.  These are splendid!  Cheers, John

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks beryllium10 for the kind words.