Views from our kitchen windows couldn’t have been more different. The north-facing window framed the Jesusita Fire, raging across the hills back of Santa Barbara in full, wind-whipped fury. Out the east window—or, more accurately, in the east window—perched a big and stunningly beautiful butterfly, multi-hued with what appear to be Nike’s trademark swooshes on its wings.

Make that a moth. A Gloveri, also known as the “Robin Moth,” I learned after consultation with the Audubon Society’s Field Guide to Butterflies and Moths and checking online.

Gloveri ranges across the continent from the coast to the Rocky Mountains, replaced by its close relative the Cercropia east of the Rockies. With a six-inch wingspan, the Gloveri is a giant among moths, one of the largest found in North America.

How the moth (a male, are distinguished from a female Gloveri by its big bushy antennae) got inside our kitchen baffles me because my family shut all windows as soon as smoke from the wildfire began wafting our way. No matter how it got in, it has to get out. An adult moth has no mouth, cannot eat, and must find a mate and the female lay eggs during its very brief (7 to 10 days) lifespan.

Toward dusk, the winds calm and I set Gloveri free outdoors. The moth circles our backyard. Female Gloveri release a scent that the male moths can detect from miles away. But how can any creature smell anything with all this smoke in the air?

The moth flies due north, straight toward the flames. Fire or no fire, life must go on.