That Only A Mother ...

We are up to ten* successfully hatched Luna Moths.

This is number ten. At first we thought he was newly emerged and just needed to dry out and inflate his wings.

But it appears that is not the case. And that this moth is not long for this world (although when the normal adult life span is one week, what does that really mean?).

It seems that this fellow's wings are deformed, and his left wing stunted.  We released him with the others this evening. And he made a beeline (moth line?) for me. It seems I looked like a nice big tree to climb. And climb he did. Making his way up my leg and continuing up my trunk. I gently placed him on a plant in our garden with the others.

I went out later, around ten, and the five moths were gone. Four I'm sure flitting about looking for a mate. And this guy? Doing the same thing no doubt, but on foot. I wish him luck.

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* That was last night when I wrote this post. We are now up to 17 moths hatched. And the moth in this post is still alive, clinging to the side of our house. We're pulling for him.