At Last! The Elusive Hummingbird Clearwing Moth!

Hooray, hooray! At long, long last! I can finally show you the fanciest of the fancy bugs in my yard!

Earlier in the summer, I posted a picture of my yard's other fancy bug: Hemaris diffinis, the snowberry clearwing moth. But the slightly larger, brighter-colored fancy bug shown in this picture, Hemaris thysbe, the hummingbird clearwing moth, had eluded me.

On this particular Sunday afternoon, I headed into the yard with my camera for just a few minutes, and on a whim, I checked the purple butterfly bush that yielded yesterday's butterfly blip. And there it was! The fancy bug! Nay - the fanciest of ALL bugs! Moving quietly from bloom to bloom. Well, of course, you know what I did: I snapped away on the camera like a crazy woman!

And when I got inside and downloaded the pictures, I have to admit to a certain amount of fist-pumping, for there it was, at long, long last. The fancy bug, captured for posterity: the wonderful hummingbird clearwing moth!

I shot numerous angles of the gorgeous creature, including front and side views. But I have never gotten a picture exactly like this one of a flying bug, from the posterior view. The fancy bug appears to be levitating, not unlike a Jedi knight. The only shame about this shot is that you can't see its wonderful, curly proboscis! (Say it with me now, friends: proboscis! proboscis! proboscis! *insert sound of hearty laughter*)

And so the song to accompany this fist-pumping scene of excitement is Bill Conti's Gonna Fly Now, the Rocky theme.

This photo is dedicated to those who have a dream. Whether it is a big dream, like becoming the world heavyweight boxing champion, or just a tiny dream, like capturing a photo of that elusive but gorgeous creature in your yard . . . never give up, Never Give Up, NEVER Give Up! :-)