Gandalf the Moth

Where I am currently living, wildlife is not an oddity.  Although the house is technically still in the city, there are woods all around.  We see white-tailed deer regularly; I am fairly certain a pair of barred owls is living somewhere close.  We even have the occasional flock of wild turkeys that roam the backyard.

So, this morning when my mother-in-law told me to check the front porch, I didn't think twice--I trundled outside to see what was there.

It didn't take long to find out what she had seen.  Clinging to the screen door was this little guy:

What a fuzzy moth!  We figured he must have been sleeping--he didn't even flinch when I moved in to take a picture.  Poor thing probably thought that he was well-camouflaged!  I didn't mind, however...  I got a chance to study him unabashedly.  He was about an inch long--and very, very fuzzy.

What kind of moth is he?  Honestly, I'm not sure.  A preliminary google search for "fuzzy moth" makes me think that he's of the genus Tolype...  I can't promise that, though.  Whatever he was, he was adorable.  My friend decided to name him Gandalf the Grey.


Last I checked, he was still asleep on our screen door.