Arizona Moth Results

[BMW60]

Hey all, this is Bill in Tucson.  Had a banner year for the hard to get stuff. 
Seems that a lot of the mainstream stuff was a little scarce though.  A.
Occulea and E. caleta were almost non-existant.  C. splendons a little low but
you could count on seeing 10 or so most nights.  E. oslari started off great. 
We estimated to have 500 individuals in one night at Pena Blanca on the 16th of
July.  The A. paminas started comming in early the same night.  By 10 PM we had
about 500 females on the sheet.  At 2AM the male invasion started and by 4AM we
estimated between 3 and 5 thousand were on the one sheet.  We have never seen
anything like it.  The sheet was so full there was no more room for any more
individuals.  They started to pile up at the base of the sheet and ended up
being 3 inches deep, 6 feet wide and 2 feet in front of the sheet.  We deeply
regretted not having a camera to see such a spectacle but made up for it 2 days
later.  The numbers were about half but still a sight I couldnt imagine being
equalled anywhere.  This time we had the camera.  We managed 6 A. iris these 2
nights also.  Nothing else notable on these 2 nights.  We then went to Harshaw
Creek and had our best night ever for A. patagoniensis and A. iris.  We saw 18
patagoniensis and 11 iris, all males. (Shoot)  Also saw a Daritas howardi, a
first for us at Harshaw.  The activity was quite slow except for what we were
looking for.  (When was the last time that happened)  Our next trip took us to
some unknown road about 10 miles west of Pena Blanca.  We took 4 R. cincta
including 1 female.  S. smithi and A. anona were also present in fair numbers. 
Lots of cool arctiads too.  As usualy A. pamina and E. oslari were present in
ridiculous numbers.  S. montana was also present in large numbers.  Our next
trip took us to the Peloncillo Mountains on the New Mexico border.  Wow,  17 A.
Randa, will our luck never stop?  Time to return to Pena Blanca once again.  9
different Saturnids, (Ties our best night), including H. gloveri which we have
NEVER seen at Pena Blanca.  Also took E. crameri and M. occulta, both hard
catches for us.  Still waiting for our female R. cincta pupa (Courtesy Jim
Tuttle) to emerge so we can start calling.  Hope its not too late in the
season.  Well folks, thats about it.  We will still be hammering it at a
somewhat slower pace from her on out, but will keep going.  Hope everyone else
did as well.  Good hunting,  Bill in Tucson

 
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