Subject: What’s this beautiful creature?
Location: Calvert County, MD
November 1, 2012 10:09 am
I don’t remember ever seeing one like this. She was in a forest, very close to a field and appeared to be laying eggs. Thanks for your help.
Signature: Joan
Dear Joan,
This beautiful moth is known as a Buck Moth, Hemileuca maia, because hunters often encounter them flying in the woods during hunting season. Coincidentally, we featured another beautiful image of a Buck Moth all through the month of October as the Bug of the Month and no other images arrived. The very day we changed the Bug of the Month, your photo arrived.
Thank you so much for the ID! What a wonderful service you provide. We saw this moth in a forest that will be forever protected from logging and open to the public, so this moth’s progeny may live to fly and be appreciated by many more generations. Directions to the forest will soon be posted on our website: www.oldgrowthforest.net
Congratulations on your successful efforts to preserve open space.