This posting is to share a few images from the Great Outdoors taken the last couple of weeks. First, my friend the tussock moth caterpillar. This fella was munching on a milkweed plant. I like its colors, the fact that it looks sort of like a fly I’d use to try to catch a trout, and also because word tussock is the only word I’ve found that sort of rhymes with buttock.
This fella made himself comfortable in a red cup attached to a pole under our bird feeder.
This is a baby cardinal taking a bath in our water dish.
She was apparently quite dirty and spent a fair amount of time correcting that problem. I took several photos including this one where her head is turned sideways.
A few days ago, I found this unfortunate moth outside in my front yard. I usually don’t pick up dead things, but thought it was cute. So, I, took it inside for a photo or too. On our kitchen table, of course.
LeptoMan, a moth/butterfly guy at work, identified this as an underwing moth (Catocala relicta) that hangs out on birch trees. We don’t have a birch tree, but our neighbor does, which means it’s all my neighbor’s fault that the moth died, I’m sure. Luckily, as I had hoped, my moth friend had a really cute face. It’s one reason I like moths.
And then I ate the moth because I wanted to know what it tasted like. Not really. I took the moth back outside, said, “God bless the fuzzy moth,” and buried it. I also wiped the table off.
So there you have it. A few critters from the Great Outdoors. Some, like the caterpillars and moths, will be pretty scarce soon, so get outside NOW before it sNOWs.