I was tending to my marigolds when I saw tiny petals moving around a bloom. You don’t usually see that type of activity in a marigold, so I watched it for a few minutes. I discovered that it was a caterpillar that had used marigold petals to camouflage itself. I got such a chuckle from see it.
One evening just after sunset, we were sitting on the back-porch. I saw what I thought was a hummingbird flying around and feeding on my daylilies. I commented to my husband that the hummingbird sure was up late and I’d never seen one fly after dark. He agreed.
I got my camera and tried to focus in on it and take a couple photos. Only one turned out pretty good and it wasn’t a hummingbird, it was a huge moth. Wow, if you know how big a daylily bloom is then you can kind of tell that this moth was quite large.
I looked on the internet and as best as I can tell, it’s some sort of a sphinx moth. 
Last weekend, our mower’s drive belt broke. My husband used a leaf blower to clean the mower out before he started work on it to replace the belt. 
He called out for me to come and see the spider that had fell out of the hood. I hurried over and was surprised to see one of the biggest trapdoor spiders that I’ve ever seen. Its body was at least 3 cm long (a bit over an inch). With its legs it was even bigger and scarier.
I clicked off a photo of the trapdoor spider before my husband properly dispatched it.
I’ve decided not to post the trapdoor spider photo in this post out of respect to people who may be unsettled by seeing it. Instead, I’ve made a link to the photo. If you would like to see the scary creeper Click Here a photo should open in a separate tab or window (if I linked it right.)
It can be amusing, interesting and/or unsettling to notice some of the buglife that I don’t usually pay attention too. I’m glad my camera is usually with me so I can get photos to help me in internet searches to better identify them.
Have you seen any amusing, interesting or scary critters lately?
I hope your Wednesday is pest free and a good one.
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Joys Of Creating 
you’re a better photographer than me! We also have lots of those moths in our garden, and I also thought they were humming birds at first.
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Thanks Claire
I just got lucky. I wish I had better photography skills.
It’s interesting how huge some moths are and how well they mimic hummingbirds.
🙂
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Those moths are awesome but so difficult to photograph! I also thought it was a hummingbird the first time I saw one.
Thank you for linking the spider photo rather than posting it like the others! I’ve such a phobia about them and so many people like to not even tell you beforehand what a picture is of so you are just happily reading then bam! I still vividly remember spider nightmares I had as a child; I was about 3 when they started. I have an uncle who periodically posts icky photos on my mom’s facebook, which then of course show on my feed too, because he knows she doesn’t like spiders and he must do the big brother thing and torment her over it! The other day he posted what I believe (HOPE!) was a fake picture of a spider 6 feet in size on the side of a house in Florida. Ick. I like that facebook lets you “hide” a post to stop seeing it but you are still subjected to the initial shock and horror before you can hide it and the button and link you have to click to hide it are of course situated so you must see the picture a bit before it finally goes away!
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Thanks so much CW
I agree the big moths are awesome. Photographing them to any degree of clarity is just plumb-luck on my part. I do enjoying trying though. They’re so large it’s no wonder they fool us into thinking we’re seeing hummingbirds.
You’re very welcome about the spider link. I totally understand how upsetting seeing a photo of one or something creepy like that can be. Your spider nightmares must have been horrendous. Bless your heart.
It sounds as if your Uncle is a bit bratty and enjoys teasing your Mom. Brothers are like that sometimes. It’s kind of funny to see grown ups still playing kid games with each other.
I truly hope there is never a 6 feet spider. Omg! it would make quick wwork of us humans.
It’s a good thing you can block the posts.
Thanks for your positive feedback. I wasn’t sure about not posting the photo and only having the link to it, but it’s worked out better than I hoped.
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
I hope you have a pest free relaxing weekend.
🙂
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Your yard is a busy buggy place!
I’ve had quite a few butterflies in my yard and some dragonflies. I haven’t had any spiders show up, but I haven’t really gone looking for them!
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Oh yes Margy, my yard is teaming with all sorts of creepy crawlies and some cool critters too.
Butterflies and dragonflies are usually pretty to see. Sounds like your yard has lovely creatures to watch.
Once upon a time, I heard that we humans are always within 10 feet of a spider. I agree with that, if it includes while we’re safe on the inside of our house and they’re out of reach on outside and a wall or floor is between us.
😉
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That’s a big moth indeed! There are quite a few moths that are regular visitors here as well, but I don’t photograph them much. I probably should…
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Thanks so much Anita
You may enjoying photographing them. A lot of the Moths are really pretty and some will even sit still long enough for a clear photo. I like photographing butterflies and moths if I can get a lucky clear shot of one. 🙂
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Yeah, I saw a huge spider in my garage yesterday, and promptly stomped on it. But then I felt kind of bad, because it wasn’t really hurting anything, just being a spider. The problem is that spiders kind of creep me out!
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Hello Ann Coleman
Welcome to my blog.
I understand what you mean. Spiders are very helpful in the wild and for the most part we avoid harming them.
Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving me a comment.
I hope you’ll visit again sometime.
🙂
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I have never seen a caterpillar disguise itself with petals. What a find! That spider did look a bit creepy, I had to look, because I’d never heard of a trapdoor spider.
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Thanks Patti
This camouflaged caterpillar was a first for me too. It gave me quite a chuckle. I wonder how many other cool creepy things is around here that I’ve just never seen.
The spider was huge. The trapdoor name is from it building a tunnel with a trap door to capture any prey that happens to come near it. Thanks for looking at my photo of it.
🙂
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