While waiting for my son's soccer game to start, I usually walk the perimeter of the soccer field trying to find something interesting to shoot. I often come across something worthwhile, whether it be some bees, snails, spiders or pretty flowers. On one lucky day in the beginning of July, I fould the largest moth I had ever seen. After some research, I discovered it was a Polyphemus Moth.
The Polyphemus Moth is one of the most widespread silkmoths and ranges from southern Canada southward throughout most of the lower 48 states. It is a tan coloured moth with beautiful feathered antennae and has a wingspan averaging between 10 and 15 cm. Now that's a lot of moth! There is a small eyespot on the outside wing or forewing, which you can see in my photos. On the hindwing near the middle there is a huge round or elliptical eyespot. This moth didn't open up its wings for me, so I unfortunately do not have a shot of the impressive hindwing, but images of this can easily be found by googling this moth.
I had spotted this moth resting on a tree trunk on the outskirts of a soccer field. It was very patient and let me get very close to it without even moving. I practically had my lens touching it at times and it never even budged. Before moving in to get some macro shots, I took several pictures with my telephoto lens just in case the moth flew away with my approach. Lucky for me it stayed! Enjoy!!
 |
| A top down look at a Polyphemus Moth. I was resting my camera on the tree for stability |
 |
| Click the photo for a larger view! |
No comments:
Post a Comment