Moth visitor

This morning Zeke, my basset hound was outside bellowing (which usually means he has found a critter!)  Fortunately my handsome hound is a chicken with a capital "C".  So I go outside to see what he had found, expecting a snake; he is very afraid of snakes.  He was looking at the ground and backed up when I came out as if it was really scary.  I looked and looked and could not find anything.  Then my gaze moved up and landed on this which made me back up as well............

Some research online revealed this is a Cecropia silk moth and he had just emerged from his cocoon.  His wings were constantly in motion so the pics are a little blurry.  I took him over to my deck to take a picture to show you just how large he is.  He is perched on a pine cone here, I was very careful not to touch him, I did not want to hurt his wings, plus I must admit he is quite intimidating.  I set a quarter next to him so you can see the size of him.  They can get up to 7.5 inches across. 

Here is a pic of his body, he is without a doubt the most beautiful thing I have seen.  Sadly he will only live about 7 days during which time his sole purpose is to mate.  The adults have no mouth so they cannot eat.  How sad is that?  I read that they are rarely seen during the day, they are nocturnal so I feel blessed to have seen this amazing creature.  He was originally hanging on a blade of grass but after investigating him, I returned him to the cocoon in the first picture. Oh, and yes, he is a male, you can tell by his fuzzy antenna.  I checked on him a bit later and he had flown away.