Odd Day of Serendipity
Last Sunday I experienced an odd bit of serendipity that seems to escape any logical explanation.
It began late during my morning "Birding in Peace" tour at Green-Wood Cemetery. Depending on the weather, I'll invite participants to join me in what I call the "after walk walk". This is a continuation of our nature explorations after the official tour concludes. On Sunday, Lewis and his 6 year old son, Oscar, came along for the extended walk. Oscar is a very energetic and curious young man who, much like me, gets excited about all of nature, not just birds. It's not unusual for him to point out a butterfly, flower, tree or reptile and ask questions or share an obscure fact he learned about it. So it was no surprise when he spotted a relatively small, bright green caterpillar hoisting itself up its thread into an oak tree. I thought it might have been some type of geometer moth, but couldn't be positive.
As we were observing the caterpillar I mentioned that we occasionally see a very large, bright green one called the Polyphemus moth. They are part of the family Saturniidae, the giant silk moths. They are huge and breathtakingly beautiful. Here's a photo of the caterpillar that I took many years ago in Green-Wood Cemetery.
Anyway, as we were discussing Polyphemus moths, I received a text from my friend Michelle. She was in Maine with her husband and send this photo:
You guessed it - a Poyphemus moth. I wrote her back and told her to get out of my brain.
A short while later we concluded our morning walk. I packed up my binoculars and camera in my backpack and headed home. It was getting hot and the sun was strong, so I decided to walk up 8th Avenue, which would be shaded by brownstones and many mature trees. As I approached the intersection of 12th Street, something to my right caught my eye. To my amazement, perched on the third step of the brownstone, was a Polyphemus moth! Apparently, someone in the building had placed a masking tape outline around it, so nobody would step on it. Here it is:
As I was photographing it, a passing couple stopped to look and we chatted a bit. I shared what I knew about the "Cyclops" moth, then the woman asked if she could show me a photo for possible identification. Not knowing what to expect, she showed me her phone and, of course, it was a photograph of a Polyphemus moth caterpillar.
When I returned home I recounted to my wife all the peculiar Polyphemus moth coincidences that morning. She chuckled. I started to upload my photos from the day, then turned on the television. I use an AppleTV and when you turn it on it defaults to whatever app was on the screen last. On Sunday, Youtube popped up. On the top row of suggested shorts, the first item was this:
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