National Moth Week: July 23-31, 2022

Tomorrow (Saturday) is the first day (night?) of National Moth Week (NMW), which runs from July 23-31. I’m sure we’ll have a few moth enthusiasts from the Greater Austin area turning on porch lights, hanging sheets, shining UV lights, etc., in hopes of attracting some winged photographic subjects. I’ll brave the central Texas heat to see if I can find a few at my house.

NMW has a website where you can read about the background of the event, meet the team behind the event, and get tips on how to “find” moths. In addition, there is an Events Map for public and private mothing efforts across the world. Texas is well represented on that map, but it looks like Greenland could use some help if anyone has time to visit there.

https://nationalmothweek.org/

National Moth Week partners with iNaturalist to record observations during the event. You can “Join Project” at the link below.

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/national-moth-week-2022

Happy mothing everyone!

Posted on July 22, 2022 06:25 PM by jcochran706 jcochran706

Comments

Thanks for the links Jack! I will force my eyeballs to stay open a few nights but morning mothing will be used as well.

Posted by mikef451 over 1 year ago

Tell Andy and Michelle Goerdel. They'll be in Greenland or Iceland, I forget which one they are going to first!

Posted by cindychrisler over 1 year ago

I'm registered and getting the sheet and UV ready. I'll try to shoot pictures for at least a couple of nights. Just curious, has anyone had any luck baiting for moths in the Austin area? I would love to hear about your success and recipes.

Posted by tcouncil over 1 year ago

@tcouncil

Hi Todd!

Glad to hear you're firing up your mothing rig and I'm looking forward to seeing what you are able to find.

My moth baiting success in the summer has been so low that I've given up on it, for the most part. I've had better luck in cooler weather, and I'm not sure why. I read somewhere that's typical, but I don't remember if a reason was proposed. I'll see if I can find out where I read that and provide a link.

I use the "banana brew" from the National Butterfly Center as bait for butterflies and moths. I have a butterfly log with slashes in it where I dribble the brew and it draws things like Red Admiral and the hackberry butterflies and Goatweed Leafwing. As an aside, wouldn't Goatweed Leafwing be a great name for a professional wrestler from the 1960s? I can see him on the bill with Haystacks Calhoun and "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers.

I think I got mostly Darts on the banana brew as regards moths. I brushed it on tree trunks in the backyard and at parks I visited. Here is a link to the recipe. I adjust to make smaller sizes for my use.

https://www.nationalbutterflycenter.org/nbc-multi-media/nbc-blog/172-you-can-make-brew-too

Good luck on your mothing efforts, and please let us know if you do any baiting that's productive.

Jack

P.S. I was mothing at the National Butterfly Center last year during the Texas Butterfly Festival and one of their bait logs (with that same banana brew) drew in a Black Witch! That was the highlight of the event, as far as I was concerned. AND, it was on Halloween night!

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/100884347

Posted by jcochran706 over 1 year ago

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