Metamorphosis #3

On Saturday, as I flew around my house preparing for Tracy and Nate’s visit, I noticed changes in the cocoons hanging under the eaves of my porch.

In the morning, the moths shed their cocoons and staggered out with gigantic abdomens, as above. I raced to teh interwebs and figured out that they’re probably a variety of tiger moth.

This site (go Cats!)  provided great visual aids to help me taxonomically and geographically placing the moth.

Over the course of the day, each of the moths shed their abdomens by laying a patch of eggs. The eggs are embedded in yellow-ochre fuzz, and the mom moths continue to stick by the patches today – five days later.

I have often noticed that paying close attention opens up new layers to the world. While photographing the two moths from my previous posts, I found several more in the hidden places of my porch.