I Tried for Moths

Steve Walter swalter15 at verizon.net
Sat Feb 19 13:51:29 EST 2011


Spurred on by the report of a Northern Shrike near one of my moth survey sites (Muttontown Preserve on Long Island), I got this idea to bird that vicinity yesterday afternoon. And since I wouldn't be going out of my way at that point, I might hang around until nightfall to see if I could get any moths. I figured it was worth a shot as I've found Phigalias as early as February 14 in the past (by looking at a lot of tree trunks during the day) and when I've done my  first baiting in March in years past, I've found many of the sallows to be worn already. And doesn't it say in Covell something about a few species coming to bait on warm winter nights? 

I put up two black lights, as well as fresh banana on a couple of trees (would be better ripe, but I just bought them in anticipation of having them overripe in time for March). Night came and it looked like a waste of time (but hey, it's still research (and negative data is data, too, someone once told me)). I decided I would give it a half hour. The half hour mark came and I made my final loop. I checked the first black light. Nothing, so I unplugged it and put it away. I checked the trees. Still nothing. I went to the second light. There below it, a beautiful sight. A live lep. A marvelous moth. I got one! My first of the year. What I had was a Noctuid of the genus Lithophane (not sure what species yet -- it didn't quite match up with L. unimoda (Dowdy Pinion), which might be expected there). It seems that it may have just emerged. It acted sluggish, in fact falling off the wall while I was photographing it.

I took some pictures and decided to call it quits -- for a reason I've never had before on a moth night. My feet were cold from the snow.

Steve Walter
Bayside, NY
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