This morning, I want to talk about giant moths. Here’s what happened:
Several weeks ago, a friend of mine found a giant Luna moth while he was mowing lawn.
Amazing, he said.
A Luna’s pale green wings can cover five inches, and their second generation often emerges in late summer.
I have a few other sightings of big moths listed in my daybook of over 30 years.
My favorites are the cecropias. They are giant moths, too. Orange and tan with a six-inch wingspan, they surpass the Lunas in grandeur.
I discovered my first Cecropia on July 12, 1988. It was lying in the street, quite dead. On June 22, 1989 a Cecropia came to our front porch light. On June 23 two years later, another Cecropia at the porch light. On August 1 of 1999, I was cutting back the garden when, I flushed a giant Cecropia moth from its place in the weeds. It lumbered out into the sun, then settled into the weeds at the east end of the undergrowth. The list goes on, but...
without the benefit of controlled academic observations, scattered notes such as these on large moths become simply backyard history. On the other hand, first person reports of unusual phenomena have been the mainstay of almanacks since the 16th century. Scientists can often explain how or why something happens, but memorable personal encounters with the world- that’s the amazing stuff of Almanacks – and of your own life.
This is Bill Felker with Poor Will’s Almanack. I’ll be back again next week with notes for the final week of late summer. In the meantime, be an almanacker – watch for the unusual in the commonplace. You too might be amazed.
