A couple of weeks ago, W went to the local EMC to pay the electric bill. Outside the office there are several flowerbeds with lantana bushes. One particular variety, with pink and cream flowerlets, was alive with butterflies: Eastern Tiger Swallowtails (cream and black), Common Buckeyes, Fiery Skippers, a few Sleepy Oranges and the odd Cloudless Sulphur, Painted Lady, Pipevine Swallowtail, and Gulf Fritillary. They were all doing their butterfly thing.
Then something else appeared. It had an olive green upper back and hovered like a hummingbird. W figured it was a moth and spent about an hour trying to photograph it. It would hover for a few seconds feeding at one flower head and, just as he managed to focus, it would fly onto the next flower head, and so on... We reviewed the photographs and Googled ‘hummingbird moth’ and there it was – a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe). Wish all identifications were so easy.
I had to try and get photographs even if it was 90+ degrees. We went down to the EMC one evening. At first there was no sign of it and suddenly, out of nowhere, it appeared. It consistently worked the lantana bushes in a counterclockwise direction. After it circumnavigated one bush it would fly off to the other bush just across the path and then back to the first bush. This made stalking it a little easier. But focusing on this dervish was almost impossible; it just didn’t stay still. And here are the photos…
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It also ‘clicked’ that this was probably what had buzzed me last year. Late one afternoon, I was crouched down by the butterfly bush in the late afternoon photographing a spider. I was wearing a yellow baseball cap. Something flew up to me hovered just above my head; it gave me a start. I just had time to glance up and see something that looked like it had olive green ‘feathers.’ It was hovering – its rapidly beatings wings making an audible sound - like a very small hummingbird. Before I could really get a good look at it, it flew off. I assumed it was a small hummingbird. Now I realize it was a hummingbird moth.
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Identification resources:
BugGuide: Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe)
- Dorsal view
- Lateral view
Seabrooke Leckle, The Marvelous in Nature: Moths and ants
This male Halloween Pennant (Celithemis eponina) was posing on a stem by Fox Lake at the Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center in Jasper County, Georgia.
Chimaphila maculata is known by the common names Pipsissewa, Striped Wintergreen or Spotted Wintergreen. This is one of two Chimaphila species that grows in the southeastern United States. The other species, Chimaphila umbellata (Prince's-pine, Pipsissewa) does not grow in Georgia; it grows south only as far as northern South Carolina.
I first saw the striped leaves of Pipsissewa in the woods by Whitetail Lake in Charlie Elliot Wildlife Management Area in December, 2009. Jasper County would be close to the southern end of the range for Chimaphila maculata in this part of Georgia. The leaves are unique so it was relatively easy to identify. When I saw photographs of the exquisite flowers, I knew one of my quests (obsessions) this year would be to find and photograph it’s flowers.
I’ve seen a few plants at home in the woods. A Fort Yargo State Park, I spotted the plants along the trail north of the dam (segment 4) and along the trail both north (segment 12) and south (segment 13) of the Fishing Area. The plants that grew in the open along segments 4 and 13 set buds but didn’t bloom successfully. Plants that grew in the shade along segments 12 and 13 bloomed successfully.
The patterns on the leaves are unique. This makes them easy to spot in the woods.
The plants started to set buds in late April, early May.
My favorite plant grows under the shelter of this rock; under the ‘ledge’ at the lower right. This plant has it made. It is ‘protected’ from the elements by the boulder and by the Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) plant to its right. If you enlarge the photo, you can just see three tiny white spots directly above one of the poison ivy leaves. These are buds.
A closer view of is plant. In addition to the Poison Ivy, a leaf of Wild Ginger (Hexastylis arifolia).
The buds have developed a little further by late May.
A small cluster of plants that have begun to bloom at the end of May.
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A closer views of a blooming plant.
A close up of the top of the blooms.
A close up of blooms, in profile.
A close up of blooms, exposing more of the underside.
A close up of a bloom, front on.
A close up of a bloom, in profile. The petals of older blooms curl up.
The seed pods are developing in early July.
Close up of the developing seed pods in mid-July.
Mature seed pods from 2009; these were photographed in early May 2010.
An open seed pod which is composed of compartments.
Chimaphila maculata (Striped Prince's Pine or Pipsissewa) is native to the eastern United States and Canada.
Click on an image to view a larger image
Distribution Map:
- United States Department of Agriculture Plants Database: Chimaphila maculata (Striped Prince's pine)
- University of North Carolina Herbarium: Chimaphila maculataIdentification resources:
- Southeastern Flora: Pipsissewa or Spotted Wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata)
- Natural and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Chimaphila maculataRelated posts:
- 2010: Year Of The Wildflower – Wildflower Index
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It also ‘clicked’ that this was probably what had buzzed me last year. Late one afternoon, I was crouched down by the butterfly bush in the late afternoon photographing a spider. I was wearing a yellow baseball cap. Something flew up to me hovered just above my head; it gave me a start. I just had time to glance up and see something that looked like it had olive green ‘feathers.’ It was hovering – its rapidly beatings wings making an audible sound - like a very small hummingbird. Before I could really get a good look at it, it flew off. I assumed it was a small hummingbird. Now I realize it was a hummingbird moth.
