Do you know anyone who is afraid of moths/flutterbys?
My wife encountered one of these this morning. Another woman there was quite frightened of it. I think it is quite beautiful and, of course, it is harmless. It is in a family of what are called Giant Silk moths.
Although I've never seen one of those in real life, I'm generally not afraid of moths or most insects, in general. The moths that kind of trip me out when I see them are hummingbird moths, but they're absolutely adorable :)
I live in SoCal but I've also seen in them in the Denver, CO area. Some years we get very few, or possibly none at all but other years, we get a ton of them. Same with monarch butterflies. This past spring we had a TON of monarchs. They were everywhere. I'm not sure what makes the difference.
Edit: Correction, they were painted lady butterflies this past spring, not monarchs. But monarchs do migrate through this area as well.
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at July 3, 2019 7:37 PM MDT
We have a huge migration of Monarchs coming out of Ontario. Their numbers are reducing, though. I need to plant some milkweed, their caterpillars favorite food. (And my dill plants. Oh, well.)
I've thought about planting milkweed too but I'm not good with plants, in general. You know, you can kill a cactus if you NEVER water it. Anyway, I do a fair amount of outdoor-type activities and I get pretty excited about any interesting little (or not so little) creatures I come across.
I got a nice picture of a luna caterpillar a couple of years ago. I think it's been 6 years or so since I've seen an adult. Kind of a bummer, but the rarity is what makes them a treat, I guess.