This little beauty was taking her afternoon siesta on the wall of my dog house one afternoon. I was busy doing chores when I first noticed her, so taking some time out to get her photo was a welcome distraction. She is an ilia underwing moth (Catocala ilia), which is one of the more colorful moths we get around here. They’re nocturnal, so many people never get to see them. During the day, they tend to rest quietly, often on trees or plants where they are well hidden. Why this one chose the wall of the dog house, I have no idea. These moths can be found from southern Newfoundland and Ontario south to Florida in eastern North America. When resting, like this, they are definitely very attractive, but when they open up their forewings to expose the underwings, they are spectacular. The underwings are patterned in bold orange and black stripes (you can see some of the orange peeking out between the forewings on this one). Honestly, those underwings look like they should be on a butterfly. Add this to the fact that they are good sized (about two inches across), and they are impressive. The adults feed on flower nectar while the caterpillars feed on plant leaves, preferably those of oak trees. I enjoyed getting the opportunity to see this beautiful creature. I would have loved to get a better look at those underwings, but I didn’t want to disturb her and instead just took the one pose I could get.