Saturday, August 23, 2008

A VISITOR AT MY WINDOW


ROSE HOOKTIP Oreta rosea (Walker, 1885)

When I looked out the window, I first thought it was a dried leaf stuck on the outside of the glass, but a closer look and I could see a furry little body tucked away there. Unfortunately, this photo isn’t the exact individual; that little fellow flew away during my efforts to get me and my camera in position to capture it through the glass. The good news is I had a good long look and made some notes first, so I was able to narrow the species down in one of my butterfly and moth books, and then go to the web and search for this image and info (link above). If you look at the documented recorded sightings, there aren’t many. I see there’s an email address, but I doubt it would count if I reported it, since I didn’t get the shot. But it was a thrill for me nonetheless!

6 comments:

bobbie said...

I've never seen a moth like this. Isn't it pretty? I can understand why you thought at first it was a leaf.

me ann my camera said...

This is fascinating and its pasteled looking softness is very attractive. I used to consider moths as gray, ugly and smelling of mothballs. That was of my mother's era, I have since learned of the unique beauty of so many. I have a photo of an unknown moth, one with such colour tones I think as yours, I shall have to check my photo archives and see how it matches up with the species you name. A nice sighting for you.

Kat Mortensen said...

This moth reminds of a spread out Japanese fan. It is beautiful and I can see how you would mistake it for a leaf, momentarily.
You certainly may be inspired to write a poem - perhaps a haiku.

Kat

Bob Dylan said...

Very nice--this is a new one for me. I like the little white moths that are everywhere. And the hummingbird moths too.

coining words--thanks for telling me about Berlioz and Idee-Fixe. I had a book called "Coined by Shakespeare" once.

magiceye said...

beautiful! thank you for sharing. however wish you had manged to capture what you saw..

Check out some just littered kittens

SandyCarlson said...

I just learned something! Thanks for the scoop.