Noisy and The Moth
Tiago Miranda
The cold wind during lunchtime seems to be relentless. It can distract you from what apparently could be a great hunt.
Despite their shyness and generally nocturnal activity, a Giant Wood Moth was there, sheltering from the wind in between some tree bark and protected by its natural wall-like appearance. This is their only defence mechanism, excepting their hand-sized body.
Then, in the blink of an eye, a noisy miner glides in and uses its beak to tear the moth down to the ground.
Not much smaller than the moth, the noisy miner aims for the abdomen, where meat is more in abundance. I stood up quickly as I had never seen this kind of confrontation, right before my eyes. As I did, the noisy miner gave up its meal and flew away towards the tree canopy above us.
As I felt emotional towards the hunt in trying to protect the weak one, I realised that I just broke the natural cycle of the local ecosystem. Bugger.
Regretful, I picked the moth up and placed it back on the tree trunk. Even if it was still alive, its damaged abdomen may indicate the end of its life; or perhaps food for another animal. Who knows?
Author bio: Tiago is an independent researcher and arborist. He was born in Brazil, spent his adulthood in New Zealand and now lives in Australia.