Saving a Life!

Yesterday was a pretty normal day, cleaned house, did the dishes, returned books, did my little church clerk job, made lunch and saved a life!

We have a small wading pool that we filled with water for the grandkids and have left out in the front driveway forgotten for the last week or so. Today I was walking past it to go check the mail and spotted this moth about an inch under water in the pool.

There was also a big stick in the water and the moth was so pretty I thought I would dry it out for the kids to see. So I used the stick and carefully pulled the moth out of the water and took it to the little table on the porch. I continued on to get the mail and took that in the house and got a piece of paper to put the moth on.

He is BIG, about 3-4 inches across wing tip to wing tip and beautiful reddish brown with painted on markings only a master artist could achieve.

I showed him to Gary and then left him to dry.

Next time I walked past him, now on the kitchen counter I turned him over and then back again so he wouldn't stick to the paper.

Next time I walked past ( 1/2 hour later) I noticed the wings weren't flat anymore but curving up off the paper. I flipped him over and back again and lo and behold his little tummy looked like it was moving! No Way, he was under water!!

I wait awhile and go look again and he is moving his wings!! Slow and it looks hard for him. I move him out into the mudroom just in case he is really going to live.

I look him up on the internet and he is a Cecropia or Robin Silkmoth. One of the largest types of moth.

I checked again and his wings are fully lifted, but his legs are still pretty curled up under him.

This morning I looked and he is gone!! I looked everywhere in the mudroom and no Robin moth. When it warms up alittle I will open the back door and hope he flies away, alive, free again.