Monday, June 29, 2009

Late night visitor.

Last night, i went to close the front door and i found this huge Polyphemus moth hanging out on the glass. Moths use the moon to guide them, and sometimes get confused by porch lights/street lights. So i called the kids over and when we opened the door to get a better look it came right in!






These things are amazing with a wingspan of almost 6 inches! They fly really slow and this guy kept landing on us. he had a really furry body and tickled as he walked up our arms.



Sequoia was a bit hesitant to hold it, but eventually did. Sage absolutely adored it and didn't want to let it go.



These guys are most recognizable by their huge purple eye spots. They get their name from the Greek myth of the Cyclops Polyphemus.

After a few minutes of dancing with it around the house, it was time to say goodbye. So we opened up the door and sent him on his way. i turned off the porch light, so he wouldn't be confused again and could go back to following the moon.

4 comments:

themagiconions said...

That is SUCH a beautiful moth! Look how huge it is!! And such a lovely photo of your daughter with it on her arm... she's brave, I think mine would freak out.

Anonymous said...

So gorgeous! I love the photo of your daughter holding the moth! We have been doing our fair share of moth research these days we just found a luna moth and an atlas moth both had passed away one in our field and the other in our yard... their life cycles are so amazing and short! Neat to see yours was still alive, so magical!

tangledhangers })i({ said...

TREE !! THIS IS SOOO COOL !! ; *D
I **LOVE** IT !! THANKS SOO MUCH FOR SHARING !! ; *)

H })i({

Lisa said...

SO COOL! We are going to "call in the moths" next week with various methods to see which works best. I'm pretty sure that beautiful guy doesn't live in this neck of the woods though. Bummer! Thanks for sharing.

Lisa ;)