Moth Encounter

About two weeks ago I was out watering in the garden when the kids came running to me in a bit of a tizzy. It seems they had found the "World's Largest Butterfly!" "Come look Mom, hurry! Before it flies away!" I walked around the corner out of the garden and looked where they were pointing. Even with my glasses on, from a distance, I thought I was looking at a bat! It was dusk, the sun rapidly setting but as I got closer I could tell that it wasn't a bat or a butterfly, but in fact a huge, giant moth. The first two pictures do not do it justice, size wise. It looks like any random moth in a closeup. I was so grateful for my nice camera lense so that I could capture a photo of it without having to get to close.

I took a photo from this angle to try and convey the sheer size of it's body. It was about the size of my pointer finger. To give you some perspective I snapped this photo of Ally with it. Look at it in comparison to the size of her head! Isn't that unbelievable? I have never seen a moth of this proportion. I must admit, it was creepily fascinating.