It was moth day under the light over my husband's radio room the other day - there were SO many of them, including tulip tree beauties hanging out. Unfortunately, there were no big moths.

I'd sure like to raise some luna moths this year!

Sherry

Thanks, KC, because of your 2012 alert I was standing around in a nearby city park for a local event that turned out to be a false alarm, but I did end up exchanging some interesting emails with the lepidopterist who scheduled the event.

Perhaps this year there will be more activities.

I want to go...must send check...CD...smoke detector...you are getting to be expensive KC :).

Elisabeth

Well these pics don't look like much but I've had two big moths on the same window screen in the last week.

Luna

Can anyone identify this from my far away picture?

One of the Catocalas (underwing moths), hard to identify by forewing pose only.

Moth week will be here in less than a month. Hope everyone is able to find a mothing event close to home. I've linked the website below. It is also on Facebook.

KC

Here is a link that might be useful: National Moth Week

Which one will you be attending?

Elisabeth

I just went to the site to see what might be happening near me, and either there isn't anything happening I'm Michigan, or the site wasn't working very well. I may just put together a small party and put out a light in my back yard. Does anyone know how important it is to be far away from other light sources? Would it make a big difference that we're very close to a major metropolis? The 20 acres behind my house have no lights, but there are street lights out front and plenty of homes with garage or porch lights on. Would I still be able to attract a decent number of moths? And how difficult is it to photograph them under such odd lighting? Thanks for any info.

Martha

Best success in attracting moths is a UV light of some kind; often the light is placed behind a sheet. Photographs are typically dark moth forms backlit when on the sheet, not the kind of images you would use for identification, except for distinctively-shaped or sized moths.

For individual moths, you would have to take a close-range flash picture near the sheet.

http://nationalmothweek.org/2013-nmw-locations/usa-locations/

shows nearly all the events are back east.

At the lone Oregon event, s'mores and a campfire are the main activity.

No one might know the answer to this question. I have a light that I use for seasonal effective disorder during the winter. I tried to find information on the kind of light it emits, but all I can find is that it produces 10,000 lux. It is certainly far brighter than any typical indoor light. Has anyone heard of these being used to attract moths. I guess I should just try it and see what I get. I think I'll do a test run tonight in my back yard.

I assume it's OK to wear bug repellant to one of these events, though that seems counter productive, LOL. I wouldn't last 5 minutes in all the Mosquitos.

I'lltry to take a few pictures to see how those turn out, as well.

Martha

The SAD light could work for moths; however most of the UV is filtered out as it is intended to be in close proximity to a person for many minutes and a high UV content would make it the same as a tanning bed.

Martha,

When I was at Mothapalooza, I figured repellant was a must. We had been warned about ticks. But when we got off the van to go wandering through a field, I was the only person that put mosquito/tick spray on. Made me wonder whether the other people were annoyed with me. I felt good about my decision since I did not get any ticks while my cohorts had to have ticks removed from their bodies numerous times during the outing. On the way back to base, the van driver commented how he had had no ticks. Soon after, the woman behind him picked a tick off him.

On a related note, I often release moths at my son's Boy Scout meetings in the summer. Some of the boys really like the moths. We meet in a shelter house. Two meetings ago, I show up to find the mom of a new scout spraying DEET on some of the kids. I swung wide since I don't know what a fog of DEET would do to the moths. Then I noticed she had a can of RAID flying insect killer on a table. We had a chat about how my moths would not appreciate that but she told me if any bees/wasps showed up, the RAID was going to get used. Fortunately, the RAID stayed on the table. I found the situation odd considering how so many parents are paranoid about chemicals their children come in contact with but nobody said a thing about this woman being prepared to spray a bunch of boys with insecticide. I'm wondering whether she will send her son to camp with a can of RAID.

KC,

Do you spray your clothes with permethrin before you go out? Since Africa, I've been using this. Follow directions carefully. Works great for repelling ticks, chiggers, and mosquitoes. The people who work at all the preserves here use it. It lasts for six washings. Then I can use some towelettes on the backs of my hands and bare spots instead of spraying. The aerosols are bad on camera lenses, so don't spray around cameras. I had Lyme Disease--luckily caught it early due to the bull's eye that appeared, so I'm leary of ticks. You can get the tick-borne illnesses over and over again.

Interesting about that mom. Is her son allergic to bee or wasp stings? Glad you didn't have to spray. Those scouts are lucky to have someone knowledgable about moths. Maybe you'll inspire some future lepidopterists.

I need to plan an "event" here. I'd like to get a friend to set up a black light out at the acreage and see what is there. Will look into it, as there is still time.

Sandy

This post was edited by butterflymomok on Sun, Jun 30, 13 at 8:55

Sandy,

I've avoided permethrin because it is very toxic to cats and I have two, one of which is very cuddly.

The scout is not allergic to stings. The old scoutmaster is and he was not very appreciative when I would teach the scouts about hymenoptera we would find in our travels. He just wanted us to get away from them.

I understand not using the permethrin. Don't want to hurt your cats. I don't have cats, as I'm allergic to them. So, I'm thankful I can use it, as I seem to be a tick and chigger magnet.

So do you go out of your way (when your on scout trips) to find hymenoptera? LOL

Sandy

This post was edited by butterflymomok on Sun, Jun 30, 13 at 14:06

Hi moth'ers...
National Moth Week starts in three weeks!
Everyone can participate. Find public events near you on the Google map under Locations or register your own mothing event. Your event can be a private event in your backyard or a public event in a park or nature center.
You can find information on how to moth as well as info on submitting your observations at www.nationalmothweek.org.
Please contact us with any questions about mothing, registering or using the website.
Liti

Here is a link that might be useful: National Moth Week