Hello, Beautiful Stranger!

Friday was a fantastic day for fancy bugs! It was to be another hot day in a string of hot days. I had taken the day off, and in the morning, we went swimming at Whipple Dam, where there were dragonflies and damselflies galore. I got many good photos of them, and intended to use one as today's blip.

However, little did I know that even more fanciness was in store for me on this day! Around 3 in the afternoon, my husband was out in the yard and he stuck his head inside the front door and yelled, "Your fancy fly-bug is here!" And I leaped for my camera, because I knew what he meant!

Some of my most favorite fancy bugs of all are hummingbird moths. The one in this photo is Hemaris diffinis, the snowberry clearwing. It has what looks like blonde, soft fuzz all over its body. Its wings are sort of clear/opaque, and shiny. It almost seems to be wearing a tiny black mask. And it has a MARVELOUS proboscis!

The light was good and this beautiful stranger visited for probably 15 minutes or more, as I snapped away with my camera. The treat it was feasting on was the pink monarda in my front flower beds: it visited every single pink flower multiple times! (Here's a link to a picture I took of one last summer, where you can see the dark mask a little better.)

Later in the day, we had yet another fancy visitor. There is also a maroon variety which is Hemaris thysbe, the hummingbird clearwing. And it showed up around 8 pm! So I got to see both of my favorite fancy bugs on the same day! It was truly awesome, a wonderful day! The light wasn't great at the time, and the moth was a bit too fast for me. I got a few pictures but no good ones. So the photo for the day is a picture of the original fancy bug, the snowberry clearwing.

The soundtrack for this day is a song in celebration of this and all of the other fancy bugs out there who brighten up our days. REO Speedwagon, Time for Me to Fly.

More info for the fancy bug lovers (including more photos):
Hemaris diffinis
More Hemaris diffinis
Hemaris thysbe
More Hemaris thysbe