{"id":764,"date":"2026-10-03T15:33:33","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T19:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lookoutnow.net\/blog\/?p=764"},"modified":"2026-10-03T15:50:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T19:50:45","slug":"two-hummers-two-species","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lookoutnow.net\/blog\/2026\/10\/03\/two-hummers-two-species\/","title":{"rendered":"Two hummers, two species"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At different times I have photographed ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris<\/em>) and hummingbird clearwing (Hemaris thysbe<\/em>) moths, but on August 9 was the first time I’ve photographed the two types of hummer together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The first to come along was a ruby-throated hummingbird (either a female or an immature male, both lacking ruby throats), who was content to do hummingbird things, such as feeding at a butterfly bush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"hummingbird\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In between sips at the butterfly bush, the hummer also took turns at my hummingbird feeder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"hummginbird\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

However, to the hummingbird’s shock, a hummingbird moth arrived. The arrival totally ruined the ruby-throated hummingbird’s day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The hummingbird did everything possible, outside of an outright attack, to eliminate competition by driving the moth away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nothing worked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Just when I thought the hummingbird would give up, it reacted more drastically (but without physical violence). I suppose one could say the next photo shows a hummingbird yelling a remarkable curse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cursing didn’t drive away the hummingbird moth, but the hummingbird continued its reign of flapping or humming terror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, the hummingbird left and the hummingbird moth remained, so I switched from a telephoto lens to a macro lens to take a few closeups of the moth. Shortly after I went outside, the hummingbird returned, making an interesting background to the photo below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Who would think of a ruby-throated hummingbird as a giant predator?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When hummingbird finally left (and typically a hummer doesn’t hang around if I’m near its feeding area), I photographed the hummingbird moth alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A hummingbird moth has red wings and white legs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The moth also has a red cummerbund (or a broad red belt), so to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All hummers are incredible, whether bird or moth. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At different times I have photographed ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) and hummingbird clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) moths, but on August 9 was the first time I’ve photographed the two types of hummer together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,36,24,15],"tags":[66,5,26],"class_list":["post-764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birds","category-hummingbird","category-moth","category-wildlife","tag-hummingbird-moth","tag-photography","tag-ruby-throated-hummingbird"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lookoutnow.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lookoutnow.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lookoutnow.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lookoutnow.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lookoutnow.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lookoutnow.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":771,"href":"https:\/\/lookoutnow.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764\/revisions\/771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lookoutnow.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lookoutnow.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lookoutnow.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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