Great Blue Heron

What’s the biggest, or tallest, heron in North America?

Standing at 39-52 in (99-132cm) tall, it’s the Great Blue Heron. This bird is about the height of an average 9 yr old in San Diego. (https://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/data/set1clinical/cj41l021.pdf ). That’s a tall bird!

The Great Blue Heron can be found on many lakes, ponds, rivers, and marshes around San Diego. They tend to wade in the water or stand on the rocks and branches next to the water. They stand very still. When a fish or frog swims by the Great Blue Heron quickly spears it with it’s long sharp bill.

We found this Great Blue Heron on the San Diego River near the Southern Wildlife Preserve, a wonderful place to walk or ride a bike and see wildlife. Herons have been spotted up the coast from Imperial Beach to Mission Bay to Oceanside Harbor. They’ve also been sees as far inland as Sweetwater Reservoir, Lower Otay Lake, and Lake Morena.

If you’ve been lucky enough to see one of these great birds flying over the water it’s a majestic sight.

Kids Activities: Coloring pages for Thanksgiving.

Get the California Ground Squirrel Coloring page along with a few other local creatures. And have fun coloring and learning.

Great Blue Heron Stats

Description: Large mainly greyish heron with pale or yellowish bill. Flies with its neck folded.
Size: 39-52 in (99-132cm)
Wingspan: 5ft 10in (1.8m)
Habitat: Lakes, ponds, rivers, and marshes
Range: Coastal Alaska, south-central Canada, and Nova Scotia south to Mexico and West Indies. Winters as far north as southern Alaska, central United States, and southern New England.
Fascinating Fact: largest North American Heron
Status: Least concern

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Pelecaniformes
Family: Ardeidae
Genus: Ardea
Species: A. herodias

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The San Diego Creature Project is an animated children’s program created by kids, for kids. Follow three brothers, their cousin, and their dog Ryan as they solve creature mysteries with science and learn about life in Southern California.

Sources

Knopf, National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds, 1997. P.367

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4956-Ardea-herodias

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_blue_heron

https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22696998/93597223 (Retrieved 06Sept2020)

23 November 202013 November 2020

Wild Turkey

Have you seen a live turkey walking around in the forest?

Ryan, our dog has! Ryan frequently finds Wild Turkies when he’s training in Cuyamaca State Park. In the Spring you can frequently see a hen, or mother turkey, and poults, or young turkeys walking in a line together. He never chases them but he does like sniff them out and watch them walk by.

“Turkeys have many vocalizations: “gobbles”, “clucks”, “putts”, “purrs”, “yelps”, “cutts”, “whines”, “cackles”, and “kee-kees”. In early spring, males older than a year old (sometimes called gobblers or toms) and, occasionally to a lesser extent, males younger than a year old (sometimes called “jakes”) gobble to announce their presence to females and competing males. The gobble of a wild turkey can be heard up to a mile away. ” Expedia

Get the California Ground Squirrel Coloring page along with a few other local creatures. And have fun coloring and learning.

San Diego Creature Wild Turkey Stats

Common Name: Wild Turkey

Latin Name: Meleagris gallopavo

Description: As adults they generally have blackish and dark body feathers. Adult males have a large, featherless, reddish head, red throat, and red wattles on the throat and neck.

Size: Males end up being about 39–49 in (100–125 cm) long

Weight: Adult males can be 11 to 24 lb (5 to 11 kg)

Habitat: Wild turkeys prefer hardwood and mixed conifer-hardwood forests with scattered openings such as pastures, fields, orchards and seasonal marshes.

Status: Least Concern

Scientific Classification

Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Phasianidae
Genus: Meleagris
Species: M. gallopavo

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Sources

Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, California State Parks (Retrieved 13NOV2020)
iNaturalist: Wild Turkey (Retrieved 13NOV2020)

19 November 202014 November 2020

Acorn Woodpecker

The Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) does a really cool thing!

These young Acorn Woodpeckers (above) seem to be waiting on Mt. Laguna for a snack to be brought to them. The Acorn Woodpeckers are known for a very cool behavior. They save acorns for the winter! These birds create granaries trees or “acorn trees” by drilling holes and placing acorns in them to eat later. A single tress can have up to 50,000 holes in it and be used for several generations, or grand parents, parents, and children that come after them. And you thought squirrels were the only ones that hid nuts… 😉

Another cool fact is that these birds work together in groups 10+ Acorn Woodpeckers. Frequently, older brothers and sisters will help the mother and father with the new chicks. They all work to defend food stores and nesting territories, or area of land, year-round. They nest in cavities, or large holes, in old trees.

Get the Acorn Woodpecker Coloring page along with a few other local creatures. And have fun coloring and learning.

Acorn Woodpecker Stats

Common Name: Acorn Woodpecker

Latin Name: Melanerpes formicivorus

Description: a medium-sized woodpecker with straight, spike-like bills and stiff, wedge-shaped tails used for support as the birds cling to tree trunks.

Length: 7.5-9.1 in (19-23 cm)

Weight: 2.3-3.2 oz (65-90 g)

Wingspan: 13.8-16.9 in (35-43 cm)

Fascinating Fact: These birds collect and store acorns in holes in granaries trees or “acorn trees.”

Scientific Classification

Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Piciformes
Family: Picidae
Genus: Melanerpes
Species: M. formicivorus

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Sources

iNaturalist: Acorn Woodpecker (Retrieved 13NOV2020)

Audubon Society (Retrieved 14NOV2020)

All About Birds (Retrieved 14NOV2020)

Wikipedia (Retrieved 14NOV2020)

13 November 2020

California Ground Squirrel

Have you seen these creatures running around in parks and digging holes?

What are they, and what are they doing with these holes? These creatures are known as California Ground Squirrels. And these holes they are building aren’t just holes. It’s their home! These are also known as burrows. These burrows can be made by the squirrels, but can be occupied by different creatures. They can be occupied by a rattlesnake, a weasel, and more!

We spotted the squirrel above on the rocky bank of the San Diego River, in the Southern Wildlife Preserve. He/she sat there calmly looking at us while we took the picture. Cool!

Like all creatures, California Ground Squirrels have a mating season. The mating season is usually in the early spring and lasts for about 3-4 weeks. After the squirrels have given birth, the baby squirrel stays with the parents for about 8 weeks. A California ground squirrel can only live for about 6 years of age.

Like every living thing in the world, California Ground Squirrels have a habitat. A habitat, or place where the creature lives, is a very important part of the creature. This creature is in many natural habitats, like the coastal shore, or the forests. These creatures can mainly be spotted near a coast, but can also be sighted farther away from the shore, like in places with trees.

These California Ground Squirrels mainly are herbivores, or animals that only eat plants. These creatures eat mainly seeds, grain, nuts, and sometimes roots. The California ground squirrel has cheek pouches, or a place to store extra food. These cheek pouches can hold food that can be eaten at later dates.

CA Ground Squirrel Coloring Page — Download the California Ground Squirrel Coloring Page

Get the California Ground Squirrel Coloring page along with a few other local creatures. And have fun coloring and learning.

San Diego Creature California Ground Squirrel Stats

Common Name: California ground squirrel

Latin Name: Otospermophilus beecheyi

Description: The California ground squirrels upper parts are mottled, containing a mixture of gray and white. Around the eyes are a whitish color, and around the tummy area is a yellowish gray.

Size: Body: 30 cm (12 in) Tail: 15 cm (5.9 in)

Weight: 280-738 g (9.9-26.0 oz)

Habitat: Earthy banks are more preferred for burrow homes
Fascinating fact: The tail swishing from side to side is called tail-swishing, which helps deter a snake during a snake attack

Status: Least Concern

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Sciuridae
Genus: Otospermophilus
Species: O. beecheyi

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Sources:

iNaturalist (Retrieved 21AUG2020)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_ground_squirrel (Retrieved 21AUG2020)

24 September 202024 September 2020

National Public Lands Day Kid Friendly Activities 2020

Happy National Public Lands Day September 26, 2020!

Celebrate National Public Lands Day with some of these kid friendly activities. We’ll be voluneering with a group from SDG&E doing beach clean up.

“National Public Lands Day is the nation’s largest, single-day volunteer event for public lands. Established in 1994 and held annually on the fourth Saturday in September, the event brings out thousands of volunteers to help restore and improve public lands around the country.” https://www.neefusa.org/npld

National Public Lands Day Cuyamaca — Ryan training at Cuyamaca Park.

National Public Lands Day Famosa Slough — Famosa Slough

A volunteer – a person who offers to do something, or a person who works for an organisation without being paid. (Oxford Student’s Dictionary)

National Public Lands Day Kid Friendly Activities San Diego Map — San Diego County map

Due to Covid restrictions many parks aren’t doing as many events this year. Be sure to check conditions and with an event organizer before heading out.

National Public Lands Day Cabrillo — Cabrillo National Monument overlooking San Diego.

Top Kid Friendly Activities for National Public Lands Day

We’ll be doing beach clean up with SDG&E! We’ve got masks, shirts, buckets, gloves, and even a grabber.
Snowy Egret at the Southern Wildlife Preserve San Diego River, San Diego, CA, USA.
Visit a park. National parks and participating agencies are free.
City of San Diego Parks Map (List of open parks, PDF)
County of San Diego Parks and Recreation
From the coast to the mountains and the valleys to the desserts, County Parks maintains nearly 50,000 acres of land for public use.
Volunteer at Cabrillo National Monument NPS
https://www.nps.gov/getinvolved/volunteer.htm
Take a virtual trip.The San Diego Zoo has live stream video cameras that let you catch a number of the zoo’s inhabitants—from koalas to penguins to the new baby orangutan.
Tuna Crabs found at Ocean Beach Dog Beach (not often though).
Do a bit of your own park cleaning. There’s a hiking rule of thumb – leave it cleaner than you found it. If you see any trash put it in a trash can.

See you out there!

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Sources

21 September 202017 September 2020

National Elephant Appreciation Day

National Elephant Appreciation Day is Sept 22

Ok, ok, there aren’t wild elephants in San Diego, but National Elephant Appreciation Day gives us two things that we love to talk about. First, is elephants. They’re really cool creatures. And second, is the San Diego Zoo – we love to visit, and they have elephants!

National Elephant Appreciation Day - baby elephant — Elephant family.

Cool Elephant facts

Did you know that there is more than one kind of elephant? The San Diego Zoo is home to three elephants. Mary and Devi are Asian elephants and Shaba is an African elephant.
What is the largest land animal on earth today? Yep, African Elephants! At 8 to 13 ft (2.4 to 3.9 m) at the shoulder and weighing 2.5 to 7 tons, African Elephants are the largest land animals in the world.
Did you know that elephants use their ears like air conditioners? Those big ears have lots of blood vessels. As their blood circulates it’s cooled when it goes through their flapping ears. This helps to cool the rest of them down.
How does an elephant’s trunk work? An elephant’s trunk is a prehensile upper lip (or a really long lip that’s kind of like a hand, it can grab and hold things). It also has about 40–60,000 muscles. They use it for smelling, touching, feeding, drinking, spraying water, dusting, producing sounds, loading, defending and attacking. Cool!

Language Exposure

English: Elephant
Spanish: elefante
Hindi: हाथी haathee

National Elephant Appreciation Day — African Elephant

See elephants live on the San Diego Zoo’s Elephant camera.

African Bush Elephant Conservation

Today the African Bush Elephants’ status is listed as Vulnerable by IUCN. This means that they are a high risk of becoming extinct in the wild. African elephants are protected in all the countries of their geographic range. They’re also protected under international environmental agreements, CITES and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species.

African Bush Elephant Stats

Description: Large land mammals with a nose/upper lip modified into a trunk and teeth modified into tusks
Size: 8 to 13 ft (2.4 to 3.9 m) tall at the shoulder
Weight: 6.00 t (6.61 short tons)
Habitat: Variety of habitats, including subtropical and temperate forests, dry and seasonally flooded grasslands and woodlands, wetlands and agricultural land from sea level to mountain slopes
Range: Sub-Saharan Africa
Diet: Herbivorous – mainly grasses, creepers and herbs.
Fascinating Fact: Cool ears! An elephant’s ears are a like an air conditioner. As elephants flap their ears on a hot day, the blood flowing through the many blood vessels in the ears is cooled. If they have just splashed around in a river, all the better! This ear flapping behavior cools their large bodies on warm days.

Status: Vulnerable

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Family: Elephantoidea
Genus: Elephantidae
Species: Loxodonta africana

The San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park are outdoor destinations and are open. Check with the zoo’s website for official details. https://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/

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Sources

17 September 202017 September 2020

San Diego Creature Snowy Egret

Have you ever seen paintings of ladies, sultans, or military officers with white fluffy feathers on their heads? Where do they come from?

Some of these kinds of feathers can be seen on a creature found in San Diego called the Snowy Egret. In the early twentieth century, the Snowy Egret was hunted for their long breeding plumes, or feathers. It was fashionable for ladies to wear the feathers on their hats. Aigrettes, or a headdress consisting of white egret’s feathers, studded with diamonds and rubies, also decorated the turbans of Ottoman sultans or the ceremonial chamfron. A chamfron is the protective armor worn on a horse’s head. An aigrette also used to be worn by certain ranks of officers in the French army.

Adult Snowy Egrets are entirely white apart from the yellow lores (the region between the eyes and nostrils of birds, reptiles, and amphibians.) between the long black bill and the eye, black legs, and bright yellow feet. The nape and neck bear long, shaggy plumes known as aigrettes. Young snowy egrets have duller, greenish legs.

These beautiful birds eat fish, crustaceans, insects, small reptiles, snails, frogs, worms and crayfish. They catch their food in shallow water, usually running fast, or sprinting after schools of minows. Snowy egrets may also stand still and wait to ambush prey.

Now protected in the United States by law, under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, this bird’s population has come back and is now listed as being of “least concern.”

San Diego Creature Snowy Egret — Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) an entirely white apart bird from the yellow lores between the long black bill and the eye, black legs, and bright yellow feet. At the Southern Wildlife Preserve San Diego River, San Diego, CA, USA.

We found this Snowy egret on the bank of the San Diego River near the Southern Wildlife Preserve.

San Diego Creature Snowy Egret County Map — San Diego County sightings map.

Snowy Egret San Diego creature map — Detail of San Diego Creature Map.

San Diego Creature Snowy Egret Stats

Common Name: Snowy Egret
Latin Name: Egretta thula

Description: Adult snowy egrets are entirely white apart from the yellow lores between the long black bill and the eye, black legs, and bright yellow feet. The nape and neck bear long, shaggy plumes known as aigrettes. Immature snowy egrets have duller, greenish legs.

Size: 22.1-26.0 in (56-66 cm)

Weight: 13.1 oz (370 g)

Wingspan: 39.4 in (100 cm)

Habitat: wetlands of many types; marshes, riverbanks, lakesides, pools, salt marshes and estuaries.

Fascinating Fact: They were once hunted for their feathers.

Status: Least concern
International Union for Conservation of Nature

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Pelecaniformes
Family: Ardeidae
Genus: Egretta
Species: E. thula

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Sources:

Knopf, National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds, 1997. p.369
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4940-Egretta-thula (Retrieved 01SEP2020)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowy_egret (Retrieved 01SEP2020)
https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/snoegr/cur/introduction (Retrieved 01SEP2020)
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22696974/93595536 (Retrieved 01SEP2020)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aigrette (Retrieved 01SEP2020)
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). “Aigrette“. Encyclopædia Britannica. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 436
https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/snowy-egret (Retrieved 02SEP2020)
https://eol.org/traitbank (Retrieved 02SEP2020)
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snowy_Egret/id (Retrieved 02SEP2020)

16 September 20206 October 2020

Western Spiny Brittle Star

What would you do if you could grow new arms and legs like a Western Spiny Brittle Star?

Latin Name: Ophiothrix spiculata

You might have noticed that this small Western Spiny Brittle Star has lost part of a leg. In time this arm should regenerate or regrow. We found this guy in the tidepools at Cabrillo National Monument.

Sea stars have a remarkable ability to regenerate, or regrow, their arms and tube feet. Most kinds of sea stars need at least part of their central disk to be intact in order to regenerate arms, but a few tropical species can grow an entire body from just a severed limb. Regeneration of arms is not a fast process; it can take up to a year for larger sea stars.

Western Spiny Brittle Star Stats

Description: Spiny. Orange, yellow, tan, brown, green, variously patterned. Long, thorny spines on margins of arms and disk.

Size: Disk diameter ¾ in (19 mm), arm length 6 in (15 cm)

Habitat: water depth 0.35 m Under rocks, in crevices and mats of algae or invertebrates; from low-tide line to water 660 ft (2012 m) deep

Range: Kelp holdfasts and clumps of bryozoans and worm tubes are often writhing masses of Western Spiny Brittle Star arms.

Diet: Brittle stars are mainly detrivores (detritus-eaters); they eat decaying matter and plankton. Some brittle stars can also kill small animals. They push their stomach out through their mouth (which is located on the underside of the disk of the brittle stars) and digest the prey (there is no anus).

Fascinating Fact: Western Spiny Brittle Star’s anchor themselves with spines of one or more arms. They then extend their other arms into the water for filter feeding.

Fascinating Fact: If a brittle star’s arm is cut off, it will regenerate (regrow).

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Echinodermata
Class: Ophiuroidea
Order: Amphilepidida
Family: Ophiotrichidae
Genus: Ophiothrix
Species: Ophiothrix (Ophiothrix) spiculata

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Sources

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/48835-Ophiothrix-spiculata (Retrieved 12Sep2020)
https://www.seattleaquarium.org/sites/default/files/files/SeaStarFactSheet.pdf (Retrieved 12Sep2020)
National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Seashore Creatures, 1994. p.687
https://eol.org/pages/598202 (Retrieved 12Sep2020)
https://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/invertebrates/echinoderm/Brittlestar.shtml#:~:text=Diet%3A%20Brittle%20stars%20are%20mainly,(there%20is%20no%20anus). (Retrieved 12Sep2020)
https://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/invertebrates/echinoderm/Brittlestar.shtml#:~:text=Diet%3A%20Brittle%20stars%20are%20mainly,(there%20is%20no%20anus). (Retrieved 12Sep2020)
http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/details/species/id/b03cead5622ef4d0e3e35b6a90c785cf/synonym/f437fe5ac1c90eb14e6bb88f5d38c501 (Retrieved 12Sep2020)
http://www.marinespecies.org/ophiuroidea/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=244192 (Retrieved 12Sep2020)

13 September 202014 September 2020

Want a Goliath Worm for a Pet?

Goliath Worm or Tobacco Hornworm

Latin Name: Manduca sexta | For a fun activity check out our FREE CRAZY Moth Coloring Pages.

San Diego Creature Goliath Worm — Goliath Worm

Would you keep a Goliath Worm as a pet? What if it turned into a moth with a wingspan of almost 4 inches, or 10 cm across its wings?

Goliath Worm Tomato Plant — Tomato from the plant where we found the Goliath Worm.

The Goliath Worm is sometimes kept as a pet by children throughout its range. We found this Goliath Worm on one of the tomato plants in our garden here in San Diego. It’s about 2 inches long now and could grow to be 2.8 in (7cm). We’ll keep it, feed it lots of tomato leaves, and see it turn into a Carolina Sphinx Moth before we let it go.

That tomato plant, by the way, was grown from a seed. The seed came from a store bought tomato, that was in our refrigerator when the Covid-19 stay-at-home orders started.

Carolina Sphinx Moth Diagram — Carolina Sphinx Moth with an almost 4 in (10 cm) wingspan.

These guys also have a really cool defense – Toxic Halitosis or poisonous bad breath.

“Way before people started inhaling nicotine in cigarette smoke, plants were using the chemical to defend themselves from animals. Nicotine is a poison, and an exceptionally deadly one. It targets proteins that tell our muscles to fire when they receive signals from our nerves. At high enough doses of nicotine, these proteins force muscles to constantly contract, leading to paralysis and death. And since the same proteins are found in every animal with muscles, nicotine can kill cows and caterpillars alike.” – Ed Yong, National Geographic, 30 Dec. 2013

The Goliath Worm is also known as the Tobacco Hornworm because they can eat tobacco leaves. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute found that these creatures’ bodies take some of the nicotine in the tobacco leaves and sort of exhale it through their skin. When a spider goes to have a look at the Tobacco Hornworm it gets hit with poisonous air around the caterpillar and decides to eat something else.

The Tobacco Hornworm turns into a Carolina sphinx moth, or tobacco hawk moth (as an adult). It’s closely related to and looks a lot like the Tomato Hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata). Both kinds of caterpillars feed on tomato plants. You can tell them apart by the markings on their sides. Tomato Hornworms have eight V-shaped white markings with no borders, while Tobacco Hornworms have seven white diagonal lines with a black border. Also, Tobacco Hornworms have red horns, while Tomato Hornworms have dark blue or black horns.

Goliath Worm Sighting Map — Carolina Sphinx Moth sighting map

Goliath Worm Stats

Description: Goliath Worms or Tobacco Hornworms have seven white diagonal lines with a black border and red horns on their back end
Size: caterpillars grow up to 2.8 in (7cm)
Wingspan: 3.9 in (10 cm) (adult, moth)
Range: present through much of the American continent.
Diet: mostly tobacco leaves and tomatoes leaves (adult, moths are nectarivorous and feed on flowers)
Life cycle: Egg > Larva > Pre-pupa > Pupa > Adult (30 to 50 days)

Fascinating Fact: Use a toxic halitosis defense

Related Creatures

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Goliath Worm Sources

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/field/hornworm.htm (Retrieved 12Sep2020)
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/61505-Manduca-sexta (Retrieved 12Sep2020)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manduca_sexta (Retrieved 12Sep2020)
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/12/27/1314848111 (Retrieved 12Sep2020) Natural history-driven, plant-mediated RNAi-based study reveals CYP6B46’s role in a nicotine-mediated antipredator herbivore defense, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2013/12/30/toxic-halitosis-protects-tobacco-eating-caterpillar/ (Retrieved 12Sep2020)

20 July 202012 September 2020

National Moth Week Kids Coloring Pages

We’re Celebrating National Moth Week 2020 with Kids Coloring Pages!

Yep, National Moth Week 2020 from July 18 to July 26. But you can download these free kids coloring pages anytime. Go to the Leirigh Films store for the Moth Coloring Pages!

They feature five different moths that can be found in San Diego.

Achemon Sphinx, a large, heavy-bodied moth with a wing span of about 3.5 inches (9 cm). The forewings are pinkish/brown with a squarish dark spot along the edge, while the hindwings are mostly pink, with brownish markings along the edges.
Mexican Tiger Moth, a small moth with a wing span of about 0.78 inches (2 cm). They have geometric black shapes on their creamy white wings.
Five-spotted Hawkmoth, with a wingspan of up to 5 5/16 inches (13.5 cm) this is a big moth. On their abdomen they have five, sometimes six, pairs of yellow bands.
Western Sheepmoth, are highly variable with yellow-orange to cream to pink with black markings. They have a wingspan of up to 3 7/16 inches (8.7 cm).
Polyphemus Moth, another large moth with a wingspan of up to 5 7/8 inches (15 cm). Their upperside is reddish to yellowish brown with some parts pink, or black and pink. Clear oval eyespots are ringed with yellow, blue, and black.

Go to the Leirigh Films store to download the Moth Coloring Pages for FREE!

Creature Project: Inchworms on the Tomato Plants

Curious about a butterfly or moth? You can go to Butterflies & Moths of North America and find out more.

For more information on National Moth Week 2020.