One of my favorite beings are the luna moths that dance with the light as we dance in the pavilion on humid vacation nights. It's hilarious to see the square dancers break their stride to avoid stepping on the green iridescent loveliness that is a luna moth momentarily taking a break from it's attempt at reaching the faux moon set in the beams of the wood structure. They typically don't get squished because, apparently like me, everyone sort of has a soft spot for these gigantor moths who have but a week to live with wings so lovely.
Me--I like their fuzzy antennae. That fuzziness is the sole difference between moths and butterflies--a fact lost on many because folks automatically think butterflies are colorful while moths are not. Not true.
I found Romeo and Juliet hanging out together on a log near our cabin one afternoon. I took many photos of these two that day, but some just weren't appropriate for my G Rated blog. Yep, when I walked up, I swear Barry White was softly playing somewhere and these two were makin' out--moth style.I kept sending the kids out to look at them, but Em was mortified, not wanting to interrupt whatever they were doing. I finally found them just hanging out, enjoying each others company, readying themselves for whatever moths do for fun. I dunno, maybe they were making small talk, who knows? They were sweet and I think I took a trabillion photos of these two--amazed at their markings, those wacky antennas, and just how freaking large they are (4 1/2 inch wingspan).
One of life's hardest lessons is that of nature and my moth friends were not immune to the grim realities of being a bug. We returned home later that night to find that either Romeo or Juliet had met an awful fate--apparently somebody larger was hungry and left us with much sadness and a bit of wing or two on the sidewalk.
My heart was heavy as I realized that I captured the very end of one of these beauties and all I could do was to hope that Juliet survived to lay her eggs on a leaf somewhere to start the cycle all over again. Damn, nature is brutal.
20 comments:
Hmmm.... I must be honest with you Lin... I can't decide if I like these moths or not. They are a little creepy. I mean ~ I love butterflies and there are indeed some moths that are beautiful.. but these? Perhaps they are prettier in person...??!
But I am sorry for you loss... ;)
xo Catherine
Love your story but I wish I could part with these over sized MOSQUITOS!!!
Please forgive me for this being way off-topic, but our local news aired a little segment on the flooding up around Carol Stream. Anyway, a 5 second part of that was of a woman with your hairstyle talking to a police man, and I was wondering if it might have been you. They didn't show the face of the woman, but by the way he was reacting, it sure could have been you "talking" to him. So, did you drain the frog pond without getting a permit or what?
They are lovely! I don't think I've ever seen a luna moth. Actually. I rarely see any moths down here, except the little tiny ones at the front door light during the night.
Maybe they get eaten too fast for me to spot them. Of course thanks to the mosquitoes, I don't spend much time outside at night looking.
Nature. Yes, beautiful and brutal. The "over-sized insects" are quite interesting, lovely even. The under-sized ones I don't like so much, say chiggers and no-see-ems.
Wow! Those luna moths are ginormous. We have birds around here that are smaller than that.
Yes, brutal... but it's good to remember these parts too. We used to get these moths flapping on our kitchen screen when I was a kid. Just lovely. Haven't seen one in years. Glad you did. And I, too, hope Juliet was the survivor.
WHich brings you right back to "reality bites".
They are beautiful but look a bit too big for me to enjoy close up. (Sorta resemble tomato worms.)
I'm sorry that they died a horrible death.
I think there is just something so beautiful about Luna moths...I hope the female made it!
They are huge bugs.
Moths can be strikingly beautiful. We have a little lavender one here that comes every summer. It's color is just stunning; especially if a whole flock? herd? gaggle? of them comes through at once. Like small pieces of flying fairy dust.
Those are huge moths! I've never seen one of those before but it is pretty! I hope Juliet made it.
4 1/2 inch wing span? wow that's a big moth. They are pretty though
Sigh. Yeah, I get this. I really do...
And the things we miss when we're not paying attention.
Glad you were there to see it
That was way too fast!
Mmmm! I bet that moth was a tasty gourmet treat. It's hard for me to be sentimental when it comes to moths. Sorry, but they are delicious!
Catherine--They are creepy cool, Catherine. Creepy in the mere size of these things, but beautiful in color. They are iridescent green with some really cool antennas. Did I mention them yet?? :)
Roschelle--Yeah, I don't like that kind of bugs! I don't like the ones that bite.
Fish--Not me, pally. Thank goodness. We were out of town for the flood and there wasn't any damage here. Whew! I'm sure the frogs were loving that weather.
DJ--These really love the light, so we see them a lot around street lights and the lights by the pavilion. I have never seen anything as large as these moths. It's sort of creepy cool.
Vanilla--Oooooh, I hate those things! I'm not big on anything that bites.
Chuck--No kidding! At first sight these things sort of freak you out, but then you realize they are just nighttime butterflies.
Sharky--Aren't they cool?! I'm glad you know what I'm talking about. They really are lovely to see.
Jodi--Hahaha! No kidding!!
Chocolate--Nah. Tomato worms are all gooey and plump--these are just really big butterflies really. Butterflies that fly at night. (But their bodies are sort of furry and creepy if you look closely. Ick.)
Melodie--Me too! I guess they only live for a week under the best of situations, but that still didn't make me feel better. :(
Pricilla--We saw tons of butterflies on vacation. I'm not sure what a group is called--I'll have to look that up. See if you can take that lavendar guy's photo.
Beaded Tail--They are about the size of my hand spread out, which is really something to see. I was really sad to see the wing left on the sidewalk. I have to admit to being sad about that.
Ann--HUGE! They sort of scare you at first when you see them flying. You almost think they are bats.
Tracy--I wish I didn't notice things like dead moth wings on the pavement though. Its just too sad. :(
Violet--No kidding. Well, at least his last moments were good ones. ;)
Sparkle--Oh, Sparkle!! Bad kitty!
It's a very unique insect. For few secs I thought that is some kind of plant till I noticed the antennas. Sadly it didn't last long.
Thank you kindly for your support Lin.
Poor Romeo and Juliet. At least they died together, right?
I have to disagree with you on the southern bugs. Did you know that we all have cockroaches in our house? It's not a cleanliness thing, they just LIVE everywhere here, it's disgusting. We get wolf spiders the size of my fist in the house too and Jamie is too much of a girl to catch them so I have to do it. Oh, and there was black widow on my screen door last spring. Next to the kid's sandbox. So no, not a fan of the critters here.
V7--They are the size of your hand opened up, pally! They are sort of creepy, yet cool. I have mixed feelings on them flying around my head. Sorry you lost your posts--it's a bloggers nightmare!!
Casey--I'm thinking she escaped. She was fluttering around when we left the two to go out. It must be all that heat and humidity--those bugs down south are crazy HUGE! You are very brave, pally. I am in awe of you saving the family.
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