metamorphosis

remember those cecropia moth caterpillars i over-blogged last summer? they have finally hatched. i don't know how many eggs we started with, but we ended up with two adult moths, who have been sitting trapped inside a glass aquarium on the back porch at oak knoll for i don't know how long because i thought the things were all dead and hadn't bothered to check on the cocoons in months. i don't know if i found them on the exact right day or if they had been sitting in there trying to escape since last thursday. the adult moths don't live for long- just a couple of weeks- and they don't eat during the time. their one purpose is to mate. so maybe, if things worked out fortuitously, those two moths just had the time of their lives. there is a great series of cecropia moth images here.

i call this one bashful.