Video: big and beautiful

As promised, my video (Iphone) of the cecropia moth spreading and pumping up its wings  on the side of a boathouse at Lake Ozonia.

I first saw it in early afternoon. It was still there getting all set as the sun was getting low. At dusk I went back to check and it was gone. I have seen a few cecropias in my time, but nothing like this.

The abdomen was quite brilliantly striped: orange and white. That’s a little hard to see in the images. And according to what Wikipedia says, it looks like this moth was a male. Wikipedia also says the catepillar of the cecropia, a member of the silk moth family, spins itself a silk cocoon. I think I know where that is…