If you guessed moth you guessed correctly. This is a day-flying species as you can tell from the photo and my mention of it being seen on a May morning. Its wings are folded in and you can see four yellow spots. If you multiply that by two and add in the woodlands that I mentioned you have your answer...huh? It has four more white spots on its wings when fully open and is an Eight-spotted Forester. It is a common and widespread species that has a flight season in our area from April through June. See if you can find one in your yard before the month is over!
Scott Kruitbosch
Conservation Technician
Photo by Scott Kruitbosch © Connecticut Audubon Society and not to be reproduced without explicit CAS permission
I saw this moth for the first time in my yard about a month ago. Wish I had my camera with me at the time! I do have a photo of a grey moth that I have not been able to identify as there are so many that look similar. Can you recommend a good field guide?
ReplyDeleteMy camera basically never leaves my side because I had that same problem too many times in the past! For anyone reading this a good field guide for butterflies is definitely this one: http://www.ctdeepstore.com/Connecticut-Butterfly-Atlas-1092.htm
ReplyDeleteThe Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Northeastern North America should help with those.