A large moth was spotted on Amy's porch after Lee's guitar lesson. We brought it home in a jar to identify and watch it for a while. After paging through Peterson's Butterfly and Moth Guide we noted it to be a Polyphemus moth, female. It was about 4-5 inches across and had beautiful coloration, light tan/yellow with 4 large eyespots in blue and black and pink/lavendar striping across its wings. It just so happens to be female - the jar was loaded with eggs by the time we got home. We'll watch to see what happens to the eggs. Lou kept it in a screen bug box on her dresser until Grace called me in last night to "get it out, it's keeping me awake". Come to find out that it flutters its wings continuously and even drove DH and myself crazy as it sat on the kitchen counter. It was let go this morning, not without tears from Lou.
While doing the morning dog and chicken chores we checked out the killdeer nest. The eggs hatched and their in the ground nest cuddled four tiny birds. Mama was not happy to have us near. She pretended to be injured to lure us away. It's tempting to want to check on the birds more often, but I told the kids we could check again tomorrow. They need to stay warm with their mama, especially with the rain today.
Speaking of rain, it's great for my flower beds and terrible for DH who wants to fertilize the cranberry vines.
