Silk Moth

[tiggymalvern]

The other evening, we had a larger than usual visitor to our windows after dark.


The SO conveniently provided a hand inside the window for scale. It would look more impressive if his hands were smaller!


It's a polyphemus moth, a member of the giant silk moth family. They're supposed to be common, but this is the first one I've seen in 5 years here. I suppose on the same grounds that some species of owls are common, but you don't set eyes on too many of those either, unless you make a habit of prowling the woods after dark.

Sadly, it never did unfold its wings completely, so we didn't get to see the huge eye spots on the lower wings. Anyway, I thought it was fabulous, and I thought I'd share :-)

Comments

stunning

[lucilla27.livejournal.com]

What a beauty!
Truly a lovely site. :D
*hugs*

Kimmy

[imre-nico.livejournal.com]

Omg! Those have a really short window of lifespan and appearance annually- I've only seen one in my lifetime!

It slapped me in the crotch on a camping trip while we were sitting around a fire.

My photos got erased, but even if I'd had them, really failed to show the magnitude of the beast.

Yours do it justice!

Gorgeous!

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

Wow. I've never seen one. Glad you got a good picture!

[arafel.livejournal.com]

Wow, look at its beautiful antennae! And so fuzzy! Glad that you had such a pretty visitor. :)

[tameiki.livejournal.com]

That's huge! The markings you can see are still very pretty, although I'm much happier to see a picture instead of the real thing. What happened to the beastie after you took the picture?

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Wow!

[kiri-moth.livejournal.com]

PRETTY.

[teaforme.livejournal.com]

Aw, I love his big fluffy antennae! I think I've seen those around my place, or something like it.

[moonriddler-mim.livejournal.com]

whoa. big! ^_^ and pretty too.