Moth Face-Off

I was walking to the mailbox one morning when I found these two moths staring each other down. Can you tell me what they were doing? The bigger moth looks like an Imperial to me, but do you know what the smaller one is?

—Brett Dawson, Aylett, Virginia

Tom: The two moths appear to be an Imperial moth, on the left, as you thought, and a male Royal walnut moth. They were probably both attracted to a light overhead or nearby, and happened to land at the pole facing each other. While it appears that the moths might be attracted to one another, that's probably not the case. They most likely just settled down next to each other. It's a very interesting photo, though.