I’ve been mentioning how beautiful moths are and this post compares three moths. One is spectacular and the other two attractive in their own right.
Porcelain Gray-Protoboarmia porcelaria. These have been fairly common in the yard over the years.
Variable Nigranum-Olethreutes nigranum. A first for me and I got just the one shot before it flew off. I’ve seen images where the wings show stronger color and the pattern is more obvious but this one is slightly worn missing a few wing edge scales.
Pandora Sphinx-Eumorpha pandorus. This was a very exciting find. I’d never seen a Sphinx moth before, as with the Luna, and got a few shots with the phone before running in the house for the 7D Mark II. It had become trapped inside our blueberry netting but I managed to gently capture it in my cupped hands and bring it out onto one of our old and larger blueberry bushes that we leave for the catbirds and others. It seems to be missing one leg. It appears to be freshly eclosed and undamaged so likely did not lose the leg to a predator. What a beauty!