Tonight, we were bringing a friend home about 6:15. We had gotten pretty heavy rain this late this afternoon, and the ground is very wet. As we were leaving my driveway, my husband and I noticed a moth that was upside down and flopping all over the roadway. I went over and picked him up to move him to the side of the road and out of danger. Right away I realized that his wings were very wet and that he had been at it for some time as he was very tired. His flopping around to try and get himself off the ground meant that he had been flipping himself over onto his back and soaking his wings, making his situation a hundred times worse.
I moved him off to the side of the road, in front of my neighbor's house. I went into my neighbor's house to ask something. I was in there for maybe 5 minutes. I came out and before I got into the car again, I checked on him. He was now laying absolutely exhausted, not moving. It seemed like he was close to death, and the ants were already starting to crawl on him and swarm. There was no way I was leaving him to be taken apart, all because his wings were wet.
So, even though I get a little creeped out still by bugs even the cute butterflies and moths, I scooped him up and carried him to the car. It was easy because he was so exhausted, he was no longer trying to flap and fly away. I settled him in my lap in the car. And very quickly he crawled right onto my leg and just stayed there. We drove my friend home and the whole way he barely moved. I wasn't honestly sure if he was going to make it. On the way back which was about 10 to 15 minutes later, I noticed that he started to spread his wings and do some flutter behaviors to try and dry his wings out. He also started crawling around my lap. I took this as a good sign and that maybe he was going to be fine, he just needed a few minutes to recuperate from his overexertion.
When we got home, I sat with him for a few minutes watching him spread and stretch his wings doing more flutter behaviors, trying to dry them off. We have a carport next to where I park that is completely covered. I moved over a boogie board that was leaning up against it, making sure he was off the ground and saved from the ants. I left him there to finish drying his wings. I hope tomorrow when I get out there, he is long gone. But, for real, I never know what wild thing is around the next corner here. It's one of my favorite parts of this place.
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