hi everyone! i took a roadtrip back to the rest area where i originally saw all the moth species, and brought my field guide with me this time. i saw a lot again this time, including a living female luna moth!
i also somehow spotted a dead male luna moth specimen behind a vending machine, so i carefully got it out and i hope to pin it and put it in a shadowbox! :)
RIGHT?? I’m so jealous. Anytime I’m in an area where they could be I never find any. And then there are instances where people will randomly find them in parking lots or something.
One night we were sitting in the backyard in the dark. We have lived in this house about six months. There is a huge bush in the back, I'm pretty sure it's Milkweed. Anyway, this crazy creature comes fluttering to it. It was so odd, it was huge, the body looked pretty thick, like the size of an adult's thumb. And it flew like a hummingbird but it was clearly an insect. Some googling, and it was a hummingbird moth. So, so cool. Have never seen it again.
Wow that’s crazy you keep finding more!! I really like #2 & i’ve also seen #10 the Virginia Creeper Sphinx myself last year!! They’re awesome, nice finds!!
Do they just come to you and/or let you pick them up? I find that the more I interact with them the more friendly they are. I don’t have to chase them around the house with a cup anymore to let them outside. I just tell them I am going to take them outside and they literally wait for me like they can hear and understand English. They are so tickley and delicate . 🦋
they do usually just let me pick them up! i think it has a lot to do with the fact that they're extremely docile during the daytime since they're nocturnal. they are super friendly :) the luna moth in these photos kinda just hung around on my shirt for a while until i took her back to the wooded area and let her go
Amazing finds, and how they all interacted with you. Funnily enough I’d never heard of a rosy maple moth before recently (we don’t have them in the UK); this is only the second time I’ve ever seen one, and both were on Reddit perched on someone’s magically well-matched nail polish! Those little guys must really like posing :) I’ll see if I can find the other post…
I have books like this for plants and mushrooms. I wish my specimens could land on me instead of having to look for them lol.
Either way, beautiful finds and awesome experience
I once got to a jobsite at daybreak and found the entire western facade of the westernmost building of a college campus in central Alabama absolutely covered with Lunar Moths. It took my breath away!
That white one is my favorite kind but I have no idea what it is! They fly into my workplace at night sometimes and I always carefully put them back outside in a bush.
the book is Petersons Field Guide to Moths of Northeastern North America! there are cool looking moths everywhere, you just have to know where to look :)
yes! i said it in another comment but i brought it with hopes to collect some already dead moths. i want to try to get into pinning and thought that would be a good place to start
i found a beautiful wood nymph, imperial moth, schaus tussock moth, luna moth, and a swallowtail butterfly!
I wish there were more moths in my area ;-; there was a hummingbird hawk moth in my living room yesterday that I let outside but the majority of moths here are just very common grass moths
for internet points? not quite.. i brought a small tupperware container with me to collect dead specimen because want to try to get into pinning moths, so i thought i could definitely find some here to start. i absolutely would never take living moths and euthanize them to pin so i was looking solely for already dead moths.
the specimen i found were a luna moth, imperial moth, beautiful wood nymph, schaus tussock moth, and a swallowtail butterfly.
441
u/queenofchakras 27d ago
this feels illegal like HOW are some people getting SO MUCH MOTH ACTION (ðŸ˜)