Pollinator Party! Meet the Snowberry Clearwing!

If you want to attract many interesting kinds of bugs to your yard, plant milkweed. Monarda (bee balm) is also another great choice, and it comes in a variety of pretty colors. Either one of these will give you some of the supplies you need to host a pollinator party, which is exactly what we taking place in our own yard on this day.

I was standing by the milkweed patch, taking pictures of a beautiful monarch, when I looked down, and there was a fancy bug, right in front of me! There are two kinds of hummingbird moths in our area. I showed you the larger, more maroon one the other day. This photo features the smaller, blonder version, the snowberry clearwing (Hemaris diffinis). 

As you can see, the snowberry clearwing is roughly the size of a large bumblebee. It has a soft looking, fuzzy back, very touchable, if only you could catch it! They dart around a lot, and they have silky black antennas and a very agile proboscis. Some of the bees almost seemed to want to chase it away.

There was another bit of drama going on in the milkweed patch, as well. A large monarch was sipping from every set of blooms on the patch. Then it started fluttering around, flying up against the green leaves. Flutter-flutter, flit! flutter-flutter, flit! Up against the leaves it went!

I didn't know why it was doing that, but then I suddenly understood: the butterfly sat on a leaf, grabbed the leaf with its front feet, and touched its bottom to the underside of the leaf. It was laying eggs! Wow! You may see a photo of the female monarch butterfly ovipositing in the Extra photos area.

After the butterfly had left the patch, I looked at the underside of the leaf and saw the egg itself! It was the start of a new circle of life for monarch butterflies. The monarch butterfly attended the pollinator party, where it had a lovely lunch, and then it blessed us with the gift of monarch eggs, which will soon turn into tiny hungry caterpillars. And I got to see it all!

The soundtrack is this one: Elton John, with the Circle of Life.