Polyphemus Moth

Having mowed my own lawn yesterday, I had to get started on my mom's lawn today. I didn't expect to get the whole thing done, but I would have gotten farther ahead if I had started around 6:00 rather than 7:00. But the sun was hot and high at 6:00, and lower an hour later. Besides, I figured the light would last longer today.

I hadn't gotten very far when my mom called to me from the front door, asking me to come around to the back porch. She had found - something - and didn't know what it was.

With that much information, I knew what it was. My baby had come out of its cocoon!

This was what my mom had discovered:
Polyphemus Moths are huge and beautiful, but they can be quite startling to see - heck, they're supposed to be. (I was going to say "they're designed that way," but I don't want anyone thinking I'm an "Intelligent Design" proponent. I'm not.) It's especially startling to find one of them on your back porch.
When last we saw this particular moth, it had just entered its pupal stage last July 25th - ten and a half months ago! I was worried that a coffee can with some leaves on my back porch would not provide adequate protection against the cold of Winter. Apparently it did.
If I had thought it through ahead of time, I would have gotten my Audubon field guide and set up some photos just like the ones I took of the caterpillar last July, including one of me going eye-to-eye with it. But the newly-hatched moth is a bit more delicate than the caterpillar stage, so I really tried to handle it as little as possible. It wasn't quite ready to fly - considering how fat its abdomen was, it may take some time to get into flying condition - so I looked around the yard for a safe place for it to finish stretching its wings. I settled on a semi-shaded flat rock near a cherry tree, nestled among some ferns. I poured some water on the rock in case it needed a drink. I hope it gets a chance to mature and go about its mothly business.