another gift! fairy moth!

From today, off of Highway 49, south of Coulterville, CA.

First learned about them from The Skeptical Moth.

Here is last year's post "Freaking OUT!" where I SO RANDOMLY ran across them with camera about 2 days after I first learned they EXISTED (from SM). Back then, they were on Highway 140, near El Portal.

I just e-mailed him and thereby figured out his blog moved, and he has recently posted a shot of these guys. ANYhow, he said:

"The moth in your great photo is likely to be Adela trigrapha (Adelidae).  However, up in the foothill area the species become convoluted and it could also be Adela eldorata." So, there ya go.

What I could tell before asking is that today's fabulous creature is male.

And gorgeous.

And a wonderful, wonderful birthday gift.

=)

woo-hoo!

bb

biobabbler was invited to a blog carnival!!

    
Seriously, was SO excited to even be invited, I said "Yes, of course. FABulous! What's involved?" (in so many words) Note the order.

DIVE in grinning ear to ear (ker-SPLASH!), then ask "oh, who's pool is this? What am I supposed to be doing?"

So, a blog carnival, according to Wikipedia, is "a type of blog event...is dedicated to a particular topic, and is published on a regular schedule, often weekly or monthly. Each edition of a blog carnival is in the form of a blog article that contains permalinks to other blog articles on the particular topic."

This is from my gorgeous, elegant white moth + spider question post, wherein a (different) moth friend said if there is red on the forelegs then it's the vestal tiger moth (Spilosoma vestalis), but unfortunately I didn't take the right picture for that--the genus for sure is Spilosoma. If you want to see the PERFECT shot of that species, check out The Moth and Me (below). STUNNING!

THIS particular blog carnival is entitled The Moth and Me, and this issue is hosted by skepticalmoth who collected and stiched together different moth-related posts or blogs together in one big, colorful moth-quilt.

One word of encouragement re: going and checking it out: the very first picture KILLS ME. OMG, there are some AMAZING moths pictured in these different posts from different parts of the world. SO cool.

Oh, bonus for biobabbler. When I asked what I needed to do? He said nothing. I was done. He'd just link to a post I already made, and that's it.

So, basically, skeptical moth answered my swimming pool question (above) with: "You just did it. Just wanted you to jump in!"

Nice.

Ooh, a freaky coincidence re: skepticalmoth. I had JUST found and started following his blog, and read his post on fairy moths (SO seriously trippy and beautiful) and, what, three days later saw THIS?!?

I freaked. So I asked him and he said yes, Virginia, that is a fairy moth. Have you EVER seen antennae like that on a moth in your LIFE?!? Honestly, I swear I'd never seen one before his post and 2 or 3 days later got a picture!

Anyhow. =) I encourage you to check out the amazing mothiness that can be beheld at The Moth and Me.


biobabbler

Freaking OUT!

Bizarre moth coincidence!

I read, for the first time this last week (what, 2 days ago?) about "fairy moths" at http://skepticalmoth.wordpress.com. He's got some nice pics and I stare at the crazy long antennae.

Today I see (as in take pictures of) THIS!

Pattern is the SAME as some (species) that he showed. The long antennae are much harder to see on the 2nd shot (which I'm guessing is female?) but she's in much better condition (re: ragged wings or no) than the male. She had much more sheen to the dark parts of her wings. And much more obviously red head, male was much hairier, and maybe all that black hair makes it harder to see the red, or he just has less. You can see hints of some red.

ANYhow, what are the freakin' odds? CANNOT believe my luck. Cripes.

Emailed Mr. Skeptical Moth for his verdict, and I'll keep you posted.

Learn an animal 1 day, sure I've never seen them before, find it WITH CAMERA and they're super mellow on the flowers, TWO DAYS LATER?

Woah.

This is why I say, on occasion, I am so lucky sometimes, it's laughable.

Yay!  =)

the biobabbler