under a nearly-full moon

     woke up this morning at one-thirty-a.m......didn't have anything special on today's schedule, so i figured i'd go out on the back porch & check out the moon for awhile........it was shining like a spotlight; just a gnat's-breath past full. of all things, a yellow-billed cuckoo was croaking out its breeding song, off between our place and the crawfish pond to the north..........wow............never heard that one in the dead of night before. i've gotta say, it went particularly well as a duet with a nearby "cooing" screech owl............one or more screech owls have been "cooing" nightly for over a month now......

     fireflies have been very active nightly for over a month now; but this morning i only saw one, flickering up in the big green ash at the northeastern corner of the yard................then it hit me: why expend all the energy involved in lighting one's self up when one is competing with a full moon? hmmmm.........so that's probably it: the brighter the night sky, the less active the fireflies.......and, of course, vice-versa....................

     the screech owl songs and the fireflies have been most consoling over this past month........their presence hasn't exactly translated into an "everything's gonna be alright" type statement; nevertheless, they've made great natural companionship for a dude with a pining heart.

     at about eight-thirty this morning, a luna moth flitted an oh-so-short distance across the back porch....this was the very first time i've seen a luna moth on the wing..........at first, i took it for a tiger swallowtail butterfly; but no, 'twas a luna moth for sure........................................during daylight hours we most often see them perched in the deepest shade they can find, usually on the trunk of some large, heavily-canopied tree.

     this one flitted through a bright shaft of sunlight, awkwardly landing amongst the lower leaves of a nearby holly tree.................."darn," thought i, "you'll never make it thru the day there, my boy"................. checking up on him five-and-a-half hours later, i saw that he was gone..........hopefully duly warmed by the sun and then mobile enough to make his way to a safer perch.

     my handy-dandy 'peterson first guide' to caterpillars mentions that the luna moth "prefers hickories, but will also feed on other nut trees, willow, maple, sweetgum, persimmon, etc."...........we've got a lot of all of the above out here................yet, if i'm remembering right, this is the first luna moth that i've noticed here around the house........i'm thinking that lydia has reported them on several previous occasions, though. she gets around this property way more than i do, anyway.

     in my old nature column, "there's something new to see/experience every day that you look" was an oft-repeated phrase.........................................................................still true today, thanks be to God.