Cryptopod: The Most Patient Moths

Haven’t given you lot a mystery something-or-other for a while, have I? Well, let’s get back to that, starting with many moths. Bothell’s full of them right now. It seems like every time I go outside, there one is, and they’re all infinitely patient.

Mystery Moth I
Mystery Moth I

Stumbled across this whilst out on a walk with one of our cantina patrons, who is a delight to adventure with. (I’ll let her out herself if she wishes.)  She’s also infinitely patient. She let me do my get-down-on-my-knees-and-take-twenty-million-photos thing. And she brought me beer. You can’t ask for more in an adventuring companion.

The moth didn’t have any beer, but it did have patience. It didn’t mind some nutter shoving a camera in its face, either.

Mystery Moth II
Mystery Moth II

There’s only so much you can do with a moth that’s absolutely still on a flat surface, but I tried some angles.

Mystery Moth III
Mystery Moth III

Are you excited yet? I’m excited. I mean, it’s something with wings that didn’t fly off while I was photographing it. This never happens to me.

And from the back:

Mystery Moth IV
Mystery Moth IV

Quite lovely, isn’t it? I wouldn’t mind having a cape designed to look like this moth. Maybe I could make it a superhero cape and go as some moth something-or-other for Halloween. If you come up with a great superhero name, tell me it.

So that was that one, and then there was this other one hanging out on the apartment wall when we got back.

Mystery Moth V
Mystery Moth V

How pretty is that one? Lovely rich earth colors. In fact, it looks a bit like soft sediment deformation, so maybe we’ll start a Geomoths website to go with Geokittehs.

Alas, my second shot turned out a bit blurry. Rather than waste it, I played with things like contrast and saturation and stuff to make it a wee bit artsy.

Mystery Moth VI
Mystery Moth VI

There. Moderately neato. And now for a different angle, which is damned hard to do when it’s hanging on a wall, I’ll have you know.

Mystery Moth VII
Mystery Moth VII

So there was that.

Then, yesterday, there was this bit o’ yum hanging out on the self-same wall.

Mystery Moth VIII
Mystery Moth VIII

This one turned out better than expected: got good detail on its antennae and its fuzzy little wings.

Mystery Moth IX
Mystery Moth IX

Nice, eh? I’m consistently impressed with what this little point-and-shoot can pull off, and the variety of beautiful things nature gives me to point-and-shoot at.

And then I play around trying to see what sorts of nonsense I can come up with in the enhancement department. Just cuz.

Mystery Moth X
Mystery Moth X

And I’m spent. (Austin Powers fans should be tittering right about now.)

So there’s those little lovelies. Hopefully some of you will be able to figure out the species.

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Cryptopod: The Most Patient Moths
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6 thoughts on “Cryptopod: The Most Patient Moths

  1. 1

    Can’t help with the species, but it’s possible that the ‘patience’ they exhibit could be a defence mechanism. Having camouflage wing patterns suggests that they are used to staying perfectly still when a threat approaches; they just don’t understand that, whilst they might blend imperceptibly into tree bark or leaf-litter, they’re pretty damned conspicuous on a white wall or grey pavement.
    Lovely shots, by the way.

  2. 2

    Damn! I forgot to add; if you want to take interesting angle pictures, have you tried using a small, frame-less mirror? For the moth on the wall, one holds the mirror to the wall and angles it to the position required, then takes the picture of the mirror image. It takes a little practice to get it right, but once mastered it’s far easier than trying to get the camera lens flush with the wall, and allows for angles that one simply cannot acheive without using the mirror.
    Of course, this will only work if your wrist problem allows you to use your camera one-handed; if it doesn’t, I apologise for tormenting you.

  3. rq
    3

    Loverly!
    I’m going to go with ‘moths’ for all of them. :) They’re all familiar to me, though.

  4. 4

    The “patience” may simply be sleep. They’re almost certainly nocturnal. I don’t know if bugs actually “sleep”, however.

    Shall we add “Little Brown Bug” to the definition of LBB (Little Brown Bird)?

    No idea as to the species. In my family that type of moth were always called, generically, “millers”. Either because they mill about in the porch light, or because if you touch them they’re dusty.

  5. 5

    Oh look what I found:
    http://pnwmoths.biol.wwu.edu/

    Click on “photographic plates”. 96 images, each with a couple dozen bugs. Knock yourself out, I may do so myself if I get bored this afternoon.

    Note that the wing positions of these dead moths differ from that of your live specimens and probably should not be taken into account.

  6. 6

    Can’t say I know my moths, but from the way they are holding their wings (flat against the surface with the hindwings visible), the first and third are probably geometer moths (family Geometridae). So, at least they’re geo-something!

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