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7757 Antherea polyphemus Polyphemus
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Friday nights are often a time for layed back relaxation from the week's hectic pace. I spent the beginning of the week at UMass attending the International Urban Wildlife Conference Congratulations to Stephan DeStephano and his team for a near flawless conference with great speakers, good food, and lots of old and new friends... I've been turning on my Moth attracting light for a few hours most nights to sample what is flying. Tonight after all the evenings of rain things are popping...
Polyphemus and Luna Moths were the Main event but dozens of other wonderfully patterned moths, Mayflies, beetles and Crane Flies dotted the sheet as the evening progressed.
I reflect back at the "Moth Ball" and the hard work our human visitors took to get to our 65 species for the night... I'm certain tonight we could easily eclipse that night's species count... 
It will take some time for me to check out the ID of many of tonight's lepidopteran guests but a wonderful night it is and happy to be able to provide some habitat for these species and will turn my light off before dawn and chase my evening visitors away before the House Wrens, Chipping Sparrows and Blue Jays make the morning search of the "Moth Wall"
Beautiful polyphemus... and it looks like your luna has only half a tail.
ReplyDeleteDo you have any favorite tactics for mothing, or is it just a matter of "any old light on an old wall"?
My light is a Mercury Vapor which seems to have a broad spectrum of light emitted and a very good track record for attracting a variety of species... Luna's have a rough adult life and dodge hungry birds and other predators for their short flight period, so it is not unusual to see a few missing body parts
ReplyDeleteI love catching insects at night using black light.
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