Summer is drawing to a close for us here in the northern hemisphere. The weather is cooling, the nights are becoming cool though the sun still warms our faces during the day. We have another couple of months of mothing left to us, if we’re lucky, here in Ontario. Already we’re starting to see a shift of the species composition into the pinions and sallows of fall. Has the summer passed as quickly for you as it has for me?
Despite having missed a month mid-summer while I was wrapped up in moving, we’re already at edition #6 of The Moth and Me. We’re back on schedule with this one, or nearly, anyway. Because it was a shorter window since the previous one, there was less time for people around the blogosphere to post about moths. Still found plenty of great content, though! Check them all out, below.
Having decided that the carnival would be better off roaming than static, we’re looking for hosts for future editions of The Moth and Me. Since I hadn’t heard from anyone yet about hosting I put together this edition myself, but #7 (October) and #8 (November) as well as #9 (March) onward, still need hosts. Because it’s still very small it’s a pretty easy carnival to host, particularly compared to some of the larger ones like I and the Bird. If you think you’d be interested, drop me a note with the month you’d like to sign up for: sanderling [at] symbiotic [dot] ca.
Edit: We now have hosts secured for #7 (October) and #8 (November), but are still looking for hosts for #9 onward. October will be hosted by Lori at Reflections on the Catawba, and November will be by Susannah at Wanderin’ Weeta.
To start, I’m going to repeat a link that was featured last edition. National Moth Night is taking place this Friday and Saturday nights (Sept 18-19) in the British Isles. If you reside on that side of the pond, why not take part? From the official website:
“NMN is all inclusive and open to anyone to take part in, both expert and beginner alike. On the designated
date, participants throughout the British Isles are encouraged to see what moths they can find in their chosen location and the results are pooled into Britain’s largest survey of what species are on the wing. Much important information has been generated on National Moth Night, including new species for various counties, new sites for scarce species and records of rare immigrants; amazingly, in 2008 a population of the White Prominent (a species that had not been seen in the British Isles for 70 years) was discovered in Ireland.”
If you have any doubt that the British are way ahead of us North Americans in moth appreciation, just look at the assortment of field guides they have available to them over there.
But why should they have all the fun? I propose that those of us who unfortunately find ourselves on the wrong side of the pond all join in anyway. Let’s make this a weekend of discovery – I think everyone, everywhere, should participate in National Moth Night on Friday or Saturday night, and then follow that up by flipping some rocks for International Rock-Flipping Day on Sunday. Let’s see what we can find! Don’t worry if you can’t identify everything (or anything) – this is about having fun and discovering new things!
If you want some tips on how to attract moths to your yard, check out the NMN site above, or go to the equipment and techniques page over at my moth blog, North American Moths. If you’re having trouble with identifying your bugs or moths, you can sign up for an account at BugGuide.net and submit your photos via their ID Request page (you have to log in first).
Just as our summer is starting to wind down here in the northern hemisphere, spring is starting to creep back upon the landscape down in the southern hemisphere. Duncan of Ben Cruachan, one of TMaM’s regular contributors from earlier in the year, is back again – and so are his moths. Edit: Check out Duncan’s latest post, including the delightfully stout and fuzzy cup moth.
Diane Tucker, Estate Naturalist for the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, Connecticut, observes that moths have received some bad press over the last several centuries, and makes an effort to correct the misconceptions. Speaking of misconceptions, she also points out that the Wooly Bear caterpillar doesn’t really predict the winter… but you knew that, didn’t you?
A couple of weeks ago, John at A DC Birding Blog spent the night out with a friend, attending the Moth Night event held at a the East Brunswick Butterfly Park. The event had a good turnout, both by people and by moths. In attendance were multiple zales, armyworms and others. Finding himself on a bit of a moth kick, John also shares a few more spotted during daytime hikes.
Edit: Speaking of Moth Nights, check out some of the moths observed at Lori’s weekly Tuesday Night Moth Club events, such as this recent role call. Lori writes at Reflections on the Catawba, and will be hosting the October edition.
Over at Bootstrap Analysis, Nuthatch’s 100 hungry mouths have become 100 horny moths. The end result? More babes to raise!
Susannah at Wanderin’ Weeta, shares a couple of moths she encountered recently – a grass moth that was doing an excellent job of camouflage in the yellowed grass, and a Large Yellow Underwing that seems to share some features with Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother…
Although there’s lots of great moth content over at Martin’s Moths, I chose to highlight this “Pinocchio moth“. Martin shares with us the reason for the moth’s long nose.
It’s hard to pick any one post from Ben’s Essex Moths blog, so I’ll just direct you to visit the main page. Ben reports on his latest catch nearly every day – talk about dedicated mothing! He shares photos of some of his more noteworthy observations.
Rob at Urban Moth sums up his August mothing with some great photos of a few of his favourites, including such delightfully named species as Burnished Brass, Chinese Character, and Figure of Eighty.
Brian at The Natural Stone shares some photos of recent moths to his trap, a Large Thorn and a Feathered Gothic.
From a completely different continent, Joan of South African Photographs shares a few moths she encountered hanging out in the vegetation during the day.
Finally, to wrap up this edition, I made mention of what I believed to be a Bronzed Cutworm visiting my garlic chives in a recent Monday Miscellany, an example of a moth normally seen at night encountered at flowers during the day.
That’s it for The Moth and Me #6. Join us in a month for #7 – October 15, 2009. Don’t forget to send in your National Moth Night posts (or any other moth posts!) to myself (sanderling [at] symbiotic [dot] ca) or to October’s host, Lori of Reflections on the Catawba (loriowenby [at] gmail [dot] com), on or before October 13, 2009. We hope to be inundated!
seabrookeleckie.com 
Thanks for including all three of my posts!
Thanks for writing about moths! They definitely need more press. :)
Thanks for the great post!
I may be able to host soon. Not in October, though. Maybe November?
That would be fabulous, Susannah! I’ll pencil you in on the website. Thanks for volunteering!
Although inadvertent, I’ve had the distinct pleasure of stumbling upon the silkworm species known as Actias luna – and what a strikingly beautiful moth it was! Unfortunately, a repeat encounter has yet to occur.
They are amazingly beautiful, aren’t they? I’d never seen one prior to moving to Eastern Ontario, and was delighted to discover my first one.
@ Phantom Combra: Merging with Sega would be an excellent idea for both MegaMan and Sonic games.