A Hot Morning's Walk

The photographs of the hummingbird clearwing moth that I’d gotten earlier could have been better, so I decided to visit another area where wild bergamot grows in hopes of finding more clearwings. The forecast was for a hot afternoon, so first thing in the morning was the time to get on the road; by the time I walked the mile and a half to where the bergamot grows, all the while taking photos of other things, the clearwings would be flying.

Walked an old road where a couple of common wood nymphs flushed from grass wet with dew –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As did a small day-flying moth, an orange-spotted pyrausta –

While photographing them I found an eastern forktail damselfly on another blade of wet grass –

Further on there was a large patch of common milkweed; almost every plant was host to a few red milkweed beetles, many of which were going about making more of their species –

My route took me past a small pond and its shady outlet where two more species made an appearance, first an eastern pondhawk dragonfly and then an ebony jewelwing damselfly –

Then the route was down a wide mowed swath through another old field where a white-tailed deer stood staring in my direction until she and her previously unseen fawn headed for the woods beyond –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A small butterfly flew up, another of those difficult to identify skippers, this one probably a dun skipper (what an appropriate name) –

With that I came to the large area of wild bergamot and there they were, almost a dozen hummingbird clearwing moths feeding at the tubular flowers –

The clearwings weren’t the only insects feeding from the bergamot, there were also several silver-spotted skippers –

And a spicebush swallowtail butterfly –

It was getting hot and time to leave.