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I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.
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~ Quote attributed to Vincent Van Gogh
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Greetings Fellow Moth-ers!
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I hope this finds you well and in good spirits. This month's newsletter might trigger a feeling of déjà vu. I confess much of it has been recycled from last year.
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It's that time of year in which we celebrate the majesty of moths! Saturday, July 17th starts National Moth Week. We're hosting our 3rd Annual Moth Night, if the weather cooperates. Tickets are still available and we would welcome your company as we pay homage to moths.
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Our online plant shop officially closed on June 30th. We will re-open next year on April 1, 2022. We will be planning our 2022 collection of plants this fall. If there are any species you are interested in purchasing from us, please let us know and we will include them in next year's collection.
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This month allows us a little bit of rest before the upcoming NABA butterfly counts in August. If you are interested in participating in our counts, which will happen before the next newsletter, check out our NABA counts webpage to learn more. We hope you'll join us!
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Why Both-er Being a Moth-er?
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Love them or fear them (I hope mostly love them), moths are the "Dark Side" of the Order of Lepidoptera. About ninety percent or greater of all Leps are moths. This numerically translates into approximately 11,000 species of moths in the US compared to 750 butterflies. (If you can correctly identify all eleven thousand you can command Mothra to do your bidding.)
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Both the caterpillar and adult are food sources for other critters. While some moths contribute to crop damage, others are essential pollinators. Moths serve as indicators regarding the health of the environment.
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Some additional reasons to become a moth-er include:
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- You can observe moths in the comfort of your yard, porch, or other outdoor area. They come to you!
- Moths stay still! This makes it really easy to photograph them for ID, or regale them with songs and stories.
- Your observations contribute to scientific knowledge. Orange County has so far 771 species observed. This number keeps increasing as new species are recorded. Statewide the total number of species observed is 2830 (and counting).
- It's a low cost hobby to get started. All you need is a light source, a white sheet, and a magnifying glass.
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Click on image for full size
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Moth vs. Butterfly: What's the Difference?
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When learning about the differences between moths and butterflies it's best to be cautious about making absolute statements because both have species that are the exception to any rule.
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Generally moths are nocturnal and butterflies are diurnal. Both have exceptional species. Commonly seen diurnal moths are the Ailanthus Webworm moth, Snowberry Clearwing, and the Hummingbird Clearwing. Many moth-like butterflies in the Hedylidae family are nocturnal.
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Both moths and butterflies have representation ranging from drab to colorful.
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Unclubbed vs. clubbed antennae
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Generally moths have feathery, unclubbed antennae, such as the Luna. Some moths have filamentous, unclubbed antennae, like the Clearwing hummingbird moths. Castnioidea moths have clubbed antennae.
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I've not been able to find any exceptional butterflies that have feathery or unclubbed antennae.
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Linked vs. unlinked wings
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Moths generally have a frenulum that links the fore and hindwings together. Butterflies typically lack this wing coupling structure.
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Many moth species only feed as caterpillars. During the adult stage of the life cycle the moth cannot feed because it lacks mouth parts. These moths have a lifespan of about 7-10 days and exist in the adult form for the sole purpose of mating.
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I have not been able to find any examples of butterflies that do not feed in the adult stage or lack mouth parts.
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Drawing moths to a collecting sheet can be as simple or as extravagant as your budget allows. There are a few things to consider that will make moth-ing a little easier.
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It's Time to Light the Lights!
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Moths are drawn to short wavelengths of light. Think back to physics class for a moment. Shorter wavelengths can be found in the blue to UV light range. A good UV light or any light that produces a blueish color will work very well at drawing moths to a collecting sheet.
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Moths do not respond to yellow light so do not use for moth-ing purposes. However, some moths do respond to infrared light.
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Click for full image size
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Now That's a Lightbulb!
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The lighting set-up at Backyard Butterflies consists of a 24 inch 40-watt UV light, and I cycle using a 160-watt mercury vapor bulb and a 400-watt metal halide Plantmax Sky Blue bulb.
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The 400-watt light requires a ballast for use which John assembled using this DIY for an MV light as a guide.
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The MV bulb (left) can be purchased at Leptraps.com. Leroy is very friendly and helpful. The Plantmax bulb (right) was purchased on Amazon.com.
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The Collecting Sheet
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The cheapest white flat bed sheet that you can purchase is the best collecting sheet to use. There are fancy collecting sheets that can be purchased but know that you'll want a sheet that can be easily washed and dried. Yes, the sheet somehow gets stained!
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If you have trees to string up a clothing line or rope then hanging the collecting sheet will be easy. I opted to purchase a photographer's background stand because it's portable and can be adjusted in width and height. I also have a PVC frame that can be positioned in place with two rods of rebar to anchor the frame. My frames are shown in the photo below:
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The mercury vapor (MV) bulb can be mounted on a standard photography tripod. I purchased a special lighting mount for the metal halide (MH) bulb to be mounted above the line of sight because even an accidental gaze into the bulb will cause a few minutes worth of retinal after-image or outright blindness. It is 400 watts of photon exquisiteness!
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With all lights that I use it is a good idea to wear UV light protection and to use sunscreen.
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Identifying Moths
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Camera: I'm Ready for My Close-up
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Many of the moths that will come to the sheet are very tiny. As in measured in millimeters tiny. In order to see details you will want to have a camera capable of macro photography.
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I use a five year old Canon Rebel T5i with a 60 mm macro lens with a reasonably priced ring light flash. Using a tripod isn't practical because the moths are located all over the span of the sheet and they remain still enough to capture a clear, crisp image at 1/200 sec that is limited by the ring flash.
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On an average moth-ing night I will take anywhere from 100 to 500 photos.
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Suzuki's Promalactis is one of the smallest moths on the collecting sheet
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And...Action!
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I have had good moth-ing during the hours of 9:00 pm to around 2:00 am on those nights I can manage to stay awake with the aid of a Netflix show to binge-watch. I will periodically visit the sheet between episodes to see who is new to the sheet. I will spend about 30-45 minutes photographing all of the interesting visitors and I will check around the bushes, plants and shrubs to see who is lurking about in the shadows.
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Often there are more than just moths who are drawn to the sheet. I have had wolf spiders, praying mantis, bald-faced hornets, dobson flies, cicadas, butterflies, and ailanthus webworm moths visit the sheets. I'm convinced that ailanthus webworm moths never sleep and suffer from chronic insomnia.
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Click on the button below to learn more about this event.
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Thank You for Your Support!
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John and I thank you and our volunteers for making this year's Open House & Plant Swap a resounding success!
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We enjoyed meeting all of you and helping you with selecting plants for your own butterfly habitat or garden!
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We are already planning for our 6th Annual Open House & Plant Swap. We hope to see you all again next year!
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We would like to acknowledge the following volunteers who helped us have a successful day. We would not have been able to do it without them:
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Marie Nicole Coscolluela, Meg Millard, Kate Millard, Randy Emmitt, Cynthia Duncan, Griffin Duncan, Donna Deal, Christine Foster; and our Board Members Ellen Brown, Christine Myers, Katherine Ruiz, and April Shaw Fort.
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Upcoming NABA Butterfly Counts
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All skill levels and ages are welcome to participate in NABA butterfly counts. Next month's newsletter will be dedicated to NABA counts and how you can be a citizen scientist!
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Orange County Count
Sunday, August 8, 2021
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Guilford & Rockingham Counties Count
Sunday, August 8, 2021
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Durham County Count
Sunday, August 15, 2021
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$3 participant fee applies
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Mayo River State Park Count
Thursday, August 19, 2021
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A pair of Fritillaries seen at the inaugural 2020 Guilford & Rockingham Counties NABA Count
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Hanging Rock State Park Count
Tuesday, August 24, 2021
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Pilot Mountain State Park Count
Wednesday, August 25, 2021
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We offer Caterpillar Support to those who are in need of host plants, foster care, or adoption of caterpillars.
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There are 18 species of caterpillar that we can provide the host plant for, and we can also provide host plants for some species of moths.
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This program is free of charge. All you need to do is apply letting us know what host plants you need, or if you need us to foster care or adopt your caterpillars.
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A bouquet of Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillars
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Plant Pots Return Request
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We appreciate the return of pots for re-use if you happen to be passing by our way. No need to contact us, just drop them off on our porch.
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Coming Up in August:
NABA Counts!
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