Its not a hummingbird..

Howdee all,

While at Salem Country Gardens I spotted this hummingbird looking critter..

I knew it wasn’t a hummingbird but wasn’t sure what type of Moth it was..

I did some reading online and think this is a

Hummingbird Clearwing
Hemaris thysbe and not gracilis or diffinis

Please let me know if I am wrong with my ID

Try as I might I just couldn’t get a good photo of this Moth..

 I should have played with my settings on my camera …

OH well..

I got a few ok photos to help with ID

Identification: Adult appearance is variable; Hummingbird mimic. The thorax is olive to golden-olive in color dorsally, yellow ventrally; abdomen is dark burgundy (sometimes almost black) both dorsally and ventrally, with light olive to dark golden patches dorsally. Wings mostly clear with reddish brown terminal borders and dark scaling along veins. While wing maculation is too variable to be 100% diagnostic, thysbe typically has thick terminal borders and the discal cell is typically covered or bisected by dark scales. However, thysbe can always be distinguished from gracilis and diffinis by two characteristics: 1) the lack of any banding on the lateral side of the thorax; 2) thysbe always has yellowish or pale colored legs.

 

gracilis has red-brown bands on the underside of the thorax, and the red upper surfaces of the legs. In the slightly larger species, Hemaris thysbe the underside of the thorax lacks the red-brown bands, and the upper surfaces of the legs are off-white. Also in H. thysbe, the outer edge of the forewing transparent area is irregular with red-brown projections emanating from the outer margin, particularly at mid wing

 

It was fun watching this interesting moth..

A Beautiful thing..