How to attract Hummingbird Moths: I’ve lived in Ohio for over 20 years and I had no idea they existed until recently! This is awesome!
Occasionally, funny-looking “hummingbirds” enter the flower beds and stump the gardener. These animals look and act like hummingbirds, but something is amiss. The “bird” seems a bit small, and its flight isn’t quite as rapid and forceful as that of a ruby-throated hummingbird. But, for the most part, the unidentified flying object hovers and darts just like a hummingbird.
Chances are good that the befuddled weed-picker is looking at one of our strangest moths. Hummingbird clearwing moths look and act astonishingly like hummingbirds, and more than a few have been mistaken for birds. This has been a good year for them, too.
Both of our day-flying hummingbird moths, the hummingbird clearwing (H. thysbe) and snowberry clearwing (Hemaris diffinis), in order in the pictures below, will visit many species of flowers, but an absolute favorite is the wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa). If you plant some of this showy lavender-flowered mint, you’re sure to draw in hummingbird moths.
Special ingredients are required to foster hummingbird moth reproduction, and such ingredients can easily be added to your yard. As with all moths and butterflies, hummingbird moths have a four-part life cycle: egg, caterpillar, cocoon or chrysalis, and winged adult. The moth must have suitable host plants upon which to lay its eggs. In the case of hummingbird moths, good host plants include arrowwood viburnum (Viburnum dentatum), coralberry (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus) and dwarf honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera).
The caterpillars are finicky eaters and are chemically compatible with these plants, shunning other species. Hummingbird moths often occur in urban environments. By adding just a few of the aforementioned plants, you can grow your own crop of these spectacular moths. Plant some attractive nectar plants nearby, and you’ll have a ringside seat to the most fascinating moth show in town.