Say Hello to Fancy Bug 2, Hemaris Thysbe!

It was a fine morning at the Autumn Meadow Park pollinator garden, and the bumblebees were very busy. Two or three monarchs were zipping around the blooms (see extra photo) and I was delighted to discover one of my fancy bugs!

Say hello to Hemaris thysbe, aka hummingbird clearwing. You have already met Hemaris diffinis, the snowberry clearwing, on these pages. Diffinis is smaller and more golden. Thysbe is bigger and more maroon. These bugs are somewhere between the size of a bumblebee and a hummingbird.

They are both delightful sorts of creatures, and they are agile, nimble, and quick. They are difficult to follow and hard to photograph, but I stood as close as possible and snapped a number of shots, of which this was my favorite.

When I put a few of the pics on Instagram, someone said - You can see why people may have believed these were fairies, the way they look, so magical. And I can see that too. So here's a bit of magic for you on a summer morning: fancy bugs and monarchs, what a great way to start the day!

I have two pics, so let's have two songs. The first song for these wonderful bugs is Cat Stevens, with Morning Has Broken. The second song is the Drifters, with Some Kind of Wonderful.