Look at the wings. If you can see through them except for a dark border around the edge, you are looking at a moth. A hummingbird’s wings are a solid blur.
It is one of the most common mistakes in backyard wildlife, and it is not a stupid one. The hummingbird clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) hovers at flowers, moves between them in quick darts, and feeds through a long tube. It is doing an impression, and it is a good one.
The three-second check
| Look at | Hummingbird moth | Hummingbird |
|---|---|---|
| Wings | Almost no scales — clear, with a dark border. Hence “clearwing” | Solid, opaque, a blur in flight |
| Size | Wingspan roughly 1.5 to 2.25 inches | Noticeably bigger — a Ruby-throated is about 3 inches long |
| Body | Furry, greenish-yellow or tan, with a wide reddish-brown band across the abdomen | Feathered, iridescent green back |
| Feeding tube | A long proboscis that coils up like a party noisemaker when not in use | A bill that does not move or coil |
| At each flower | Visits briefly, then moves on | Also quick, but often returns to perch nearby |
Why you see it in daylight
Almost every moth you know flies at night. Hemaris does not — it feeds during the day, which is the main reason people assume it must be a bird. It is fairly common across the eastern half of the United States and Canada, and in most places it is seen in mid-summer.
Its relatives, which confuse people differently
- Snowberry clearwing (Hemaris diffinis) — yellow-to-greenish and black, so it reads as a very large bumblebee rather than a bird.
- Graceful clearwing (Hemaris gracilis) — very similar to the hummingbird clearwing, slightly smaller, and uncommon.
- White-lined sphinx moth — larger, wings fully covered in scales, and more active at dusk. This is the one most often mistaken for a hummingbird at twilight.
If you want more of them
The caterpillars feed on viburnum and related plants, so a viburnum in the garden is the real invitation. For the adults, recorded nectar favourites include Verbena bonariensis, petunia, butterfly bush, butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), purple coneflower, bee balm and Joe-pye weed.
Several of those — bee balm in particular — are the same plants that bring in actual hummingbirds, which is how people end up with both in one border and spend a summer squinting at them.
The life cycle, briefly
Pale green eggs are laid singly on the undersides of leaves in early spring. The green caterpillars carry the horn at the rear that marks them as hornworms. They pupate in thin-walled brown cocoons under leaf litter — which is one more reason not to rake every leaf out of the garden in autumn. There are one or two generations a year depending on how warm the location is.
Sources
- University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of Extension — Hummingbird Moth, Hemaris thysbe
Last reviewed: October 2026.