So between all the hoopla... look what I found outside on our driveway this past weekend... at first when I walked past it, thought it was a piece of Designer Series Paper waded up or something (thinking how in the heck did that get outside on my driveway???)... then got closer to look ... it was this beautiful monarch butterfly.. or so I thought .. then couldn't tell if he was dead so scooped him up on a newspaper to bring him in to show Jerry... and get some pictures... hard to see but his antenna was just incredible.. like feathers!! Can you see????
Even tried putting him on color paper to see contrast better....
Since I found him on the driveway under our big street light, I wondered if he wasn't a moth... so since Google is my friend, I looked up to see what I could find.
How can you tell the difference between a butterfly and a moth?
One of the easiest ways to tell the difference between a butterfly and a moth is to look at the antennae. A butterfly’s antennae are club-shaped with a long shaft and a bulb at the end. A moth’s antennae are feathery or saw-edged.
Ah Ha!! So it is a moth... check out this picture of a cecropia moth!!!
I was like a kid and wanted to keep him in a jar or something or figure out what to feed him.. barely alive as he was... but Jerry just picked him up and flicked him back outside... the naturalist he is... back to the wild...
So when I did google him to find the picture.... and read about the Cecropia moth.. guess what??
Library of Congress tells me he's an unusual moth ... and we threw him out!!!
The Castnioidea moths, found in the neotropics, Indonesia, and Australia exhibit many of the characteristics of butterflies such as brightly colored wings, clubbed antenna and day flying.
http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/butterflymoth.html
Adding this to our list of creatures found at the Reed Ranch....
Now that's March Mad-ness!!!
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