I found the handsome fellow above clinging to one of our deck posts this morning, and snapped a photo before he decided to fly off. I had no idea what type of moth he was, but a little searching on the internet informed me that our visitor was a male imperial moth (Eacles imperialis imperialis). These large moths can have a wingspan of 3-7 inches, with females being larger than the males. The males have more extensive dark markings than the females, but both have the distinctive yellow and brownish/purplish coloring. I took the above photo with a flash as the moth was on the dark side of the post, so here is the shot without flash so you can see that it was actually daylight outside:
I've always thought that the luna moth (Actias luna) was the most beautiful moth that I have ever seen, but the imperial moth may just change my mind!
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