The Moths Before The Storm

[Steve Walter]

I managed to find 7 moths over the weekend in the woods near my house in Queens, watched some Grackles heading north, and heard baseball on my car radio. Spring must be coming, right? But something else is coming first.

Anyway, on the moths: 6 of them appear to be the same species I reported back on Feb. 14 -- Small Phigalia (I was hoping to include its congener -- the Half-wing -- which was my first species last March). 2 were found sleeping on tree trunks Saturday morning, 3 moving about on tree trunks at night found by randomly shining a flashlight on trees, and 1 found this morning with the temperature at 34 -- the coldest temp. at which I've found a live moth. For what it's worth, the one this morning and the last one last night were observed with their wings folded hairstreak style (not necessarily having anything to do with the cold -- a number of geometrids do this in the summer).

The 7th moth was a wingless female. Maybe and probably a late Fall Cankerworm Moth, but there is Spring Cankerworm Moth and, my book tells me, female Half-wings are wingless. 

No moth hunting tonight!

Steve Walter
Bayside, NY 
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