As I was wandering through the woods of Huntley Meadows Park last Friday, I came upon a giant Luna Moth (Actias luna) that seemed to be almost as big as my hand. I was trying to get a close-up of its really cool antennae when an ant crawled onto one of the moth’s legs. I thought the ant might become lunch until I learned that Luna Moths don’t eat—they have no mouths and they only live for about a week as adults, with a sole purpose of mating, according to a Fairfax County Public Schools webpage.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Quite the exotic catch. Great shots.
Thanks, Victor. I am amazed sometimes at things that I stumble upon as I return time and time again to the same areas.
Super images.
Thanks, kenne.
Such beautiful shape and colour!
I totally agree. This was the first one I had ever seen.
Love the Luna!
Plus a “Bonus Bug!”
Always a plus. The ant might have thought the moth was dead when it crawled onto the moth’s leg, and then the moth moved to brush off the ant.
Its size was a shock to me.
Absolutely stunning!! Thanks so much for sharing these images 🙂
You’re welcome, Sarah. I like to call myself an opportunistic shooter–I often go out without any idea of what I might encounter and then try to react as quickly as I can.
Haha, I am very much the same!! There are places where I know that I am likely to see particular wildlife at particular times of year but you have to be prepared and on watch for everything 😀 It’s awesome when one of those opportunities comes your way and you’re able to capture it on camera as well as just delighting in the sight of it 🙂
You got some excellent photos of it. I’ve never seen one of these.
I certainly was not looking for one, but they are hard to miss when they are around. This one was perched on a tree and didn’t move at all when I got relatively close to it. I think Luna Moths are mostly nocturnal.
What a short miserable life 😦
isn’t it amazing what’s out there and until you stumble upon it….who knew? How did we manage to learn anything before google??????
I remember being a big user of encyclopedias and dictionaries, but it was not the same kind of instantaneous information retrieval that Google gives us.