Polyphemus Moth

This evening, while weeding the garden, I grabbed a handful of greens and started to pull. As my hand slid along the stem of a squirrel-planted pin oak tree-let, something caught my eye and thank heavens I stopped just before squashing this gorgeous creature, shown here with a (US)quarter-sized dandelion head for perspective:





It didn't fly away in alarm, so I'm assuming either it was cold, or had just metamorphed. His/her body is fuzzy all over, and his/her legs are all fuzzy looking too. It reminded me of a teddy bear! But I didn't want to disturb it to take a pic of the giant body underneath. When I went back later, it was gone. Adios, fair winds to you, Poly Giant!