Well, last week I encountered a Moth Day, worthy of permanent inscription in my annual calendar for celebration like any other holiday. July 27. These types of days come by with some frequency and usually linger in the memory for quite some time, stirred and reactivated in moments of engaging conversation or quiet contemplation. In I’m in Charge of Celebrations, Byrd Baylor reminds us to embrace such moments and revisit them ritually and annually. It is a great exercise with children teaching them to embrace the sacred moments in our lives.

Last week, it turned out, was rather buggy (and I mean this most affectionately). One student, sporting a sly grin, brought me a most impressive beetle. The dark brown scarab was thick and roundish, sporting a sharp horn rising straight off the top of its head. Liam captured this beetle, driven by his sense of wonder, and brought it to me to activate my sense of wonder, and possibly, to get an identification. I memorized the beetle before releasing it and consulted my large collection of insect books when I got home. I emailed Liam the identification and a tiny piece of its story. Rhinoceros Beetle - Xyloryctes jamaicensis - the larva feeds on decaying leaf litter in eastern deciduous forests; the beetle lives primarily underground feeding upon decaying roots.

Some other visitors to the Nature Center brought me a large moth that they had found on their house. The moth had a furry yellow body and exquisite yellow wings with pink markings - a female Imperial Moth. They had kept it in captivity for about 24 hours, marveling at its royal beauty. They came to the nature center, not just for an identification and some knowledge, but also for a resolution. Enchanted by her beauty, it was hard to release the moth back to the wild.  The kids were filled with wonder, and mom wanted to honor that wonder - except everyone knew that the right thing to do was to return her to the wild. And we did.

It turns out that Moth Day was just part of Bug Week. In fact, as the summer rolls on, we will keep on celebrating moths, and bugs, and every other bit of magic that Nature offers. It is as vital and life-giving as food, not just for the naturalist, but for the curious and the young as well. Â