mothing | backyardsfornature.org

By Edie Parnum

Female Polyphemus Moth. © Edie Parnum. Click to enlarge.

A Polyphemus moth alighted on my walkway. It was August 2016, and I had just moved to a retirement community. This cinnamon-colored giant silk moth had a wingspan of 4 1/2 inches. Each hind wing had a large eyespot highlighted with yellow and blue. It’s named for Polyphemus, the one-eyed Cyclops, who was blinded by Odysseus. Although I’m a “moth-er”, I had never seen this handsome moth before.

This summer I acquired two Polyphemus caterpillars at Mothapalooza, a mothing

Polyphemus Moth caterpillar. Photo from Wikimedia Commons by MamaGeek. Click to enlarge.

conference. They survived the 9-hour ride from southern Ohio. Once home, I fed them White Oak leaves from my community’s wooded area. They ate voraciously and pooped continuously. (Scientists call the excrement frass.) Once or twice a day I cleaned out the mesh cage and supplied them with fresh leaves. After two weeks, they stopped eating and formed their cocoons.

Twelve days later, a beautiful Polyphemus adult emerged. I knew she was a female because she had unfeathered antennae. Some friends and I released her at dusk.

Antennae of male Polyphemus. © Barb Elliot. click to enlarge.

Off she flew beaming out her pheromones to attract a mate. Two days later a male emerged from the second cocoon. We released him, too. Using his feathered antennae, he can “smell” a female’s pheromones from miles away.

These two moths (or others of their species) will meet up and mate. They will not eat. Their sole job is to mate. The fertilized female will lay her eggs on an oak, willow, maple, or birch.

Her eggs will hatch and become caterpillars. Birds, mammals, and other insects will eat most of them. Miraculously, a few will survive. The cycle of life will continue—cocoon, adult moth, mating, egg laying, tiny caterpillars, big caterpillars, and cocoon again. This will happen over and over, as long as we have wooded areas or yards with the essential native trees to support them.

A Woolly Bear caterpillar looks for a place to spend the winter. © Barb Elliot. Click to enlarge.

Fall can be a good time to look for Polyphemus and other caterpillars. Many caterpillars leave the host plants where they’ve been feeding and start walking. These “wanderers” are looking for a suitable place to overwinter. Many will spend the winter in leaves on the ground; others will spin a cocoon attached to a twig.

Barb found this Polyphemus Moth cocoon in her yard. © Barb Elliot. Click to enlarge.

A Polyphemus moth cocoon could spend the winter in your own yard. Never mind the cold. Go out into your yard and examine the bare branches of your native trees and shrubs. In 2012 Barb Elliot found a Polyphemus moth cocoon on a Spicebush twig. She told her story on our blog: https://backyardsfornature.org/?p=87, “A Magnificent Moth”. Maybe you, like Barb, can find a Polyphemus or other cocoon. At all times of the year, we can look for signs of nature, both active and dormant, in our backyards.

By Edie Parnum

Moths are underappreciated. Most people think they’re dull and uninteresting. They ignore those nameless little moths that fly up while walking through the grass. Those moth pests in the kitchen cupboards are considered just that—pests. True, most of us

Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe)- a day-flying moth. © Barb Elliot Click to enlarge.

can be captivated by a large, daytime moth like a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth sipping nectar from flowers. However, because moths are usually nighttime creatures, most folks have little appreciation of their variety, esthetic appeal, and role in the web of life. As for myself, I confess to moth love.

Moth Night is now an annual event in my backyard. A few weeks ago, I invited nature-loving family members and friends for nighttime “mothing”. A few hours before sunset, I prepared for the occasion. Since a great many nocturnal moths are attracted to light, I hung two white cotton sheets and positioned lights in front of them. One light is a grow light and the other is a black light. Both of these attract moths because they project a wider range of UV light than standard incandescent or florescent light bulbs. Some moths do not come to lights. Instead, I lured them to a fermented concoction (see recipe below) I painted on tree trunks.

Once it was quite dark, we ventured out into the darkness. Using our flashlights or headlamps, we observed the moths attracted to the lighted sheets and tree trunks. By shining our lights back and forth in the garden, we found more moths hidden in the vegetation, especially on flowers. Sometimes their eyes reflected back to us. Big and small, ornate and plain, colorful and monochromatic—they were there.

Sad Underwing. A 2″-long moth. © Barb Elliot. Click to enlarge.

We often heard someone say, “Look at this one!” That’s what my friend Mike said when he found the Sad Underwing (Catocala maestosa). We were happy to see this intricately patterned two-inch species. I presume it’s called “sad” because the underwing

The Sweetheart – a 2″ long moth. © Barb Elliot. Click to enlarge.

(hindwing) is plain. Another time Barb, my friend and colleague, discovered The Sweetheart (Catocala amatrix), an Underwing that charmed us with its rosy-pink hindwing pattern. The uncommon Hop’s Anglewing (Nyphonix segregata) was a good find that night.

Hops Angleshade. © Edie Parnum. Click to enlarge.

We “moth-ers” exclaim “ooh” and “ah” frequently because moths are varied and beautiful creatures. They display a variety of colors including pink, purple, orange, green, and yellow. Some shimmer in the light or have iridescent spots. Those that are orange and black are toxic or pretending to be. True, many of them are just shades of tan and grey, but often the patterns are well-defined and elaborate. Others are camouflaged to look like dead leaves or bird droppings.

: Becky, a moth-er, looking at a Yellow-Banded Underwing (Catacola cerogama). @ Debbie Beer. Click to enlarge.

The shapes can be interesting, too. We see wings that are deeply scalloped, creased, or curled. The Plume Moths with their skinny wings look like miniature airplanes. Moth antennae sometimes resemble feathers. Bizarre hairy tufts can show up almost anywhere on their bodies: the legs, thorax, or abdomen.

By looking for the eye-shine of other creatures, we discovered bees, caterpillars, praying mantises, spiders, and cicadas. My nine-year-old grandson found and identified a Leopard Slug (a creature from the netherworld?) eating the bait on a tree trunk. We listened for night sounds, too, and heard the whinny of a screech owl and squeaks of flying squirrels.

Leopard Slug. © Edie Parnum. Click to enlarge.

Many of us took photos and then later admired the details on our computer screens. That’s when I try my hand at moth ID. It’s difficult. After all, 11, 000 species of moths in North America have been identified. Moths outnumber butterfly species 11 to one.

After I’ve identified a moth, I note its host plants. These are the plants where the moth lived its earlier stages as an egg and caterpillar and where the female adult moth will lay eggs for the next generation. Many of these host plants grow on my property (see below). Although I live in a congested suburban area, my ¾-acre property has a good variety of the native perennials, grasses, and woody plants that moths use. And, I don’t use pesticides. It is moth-friendly habitat.

Why should we care about moths? Moths are important links in the web of life. The adult moths are good pollinators and are food for birds and bats. Birds, especially nestling birds, also feed on moths in their egg, larvae, or caterpillar stages. Small mammals, reptiles, and other insect predators consume moths in their various stages as well. In fact, insects power our ecosystem and are the most important animals of all.

Moths have lured me into the nighttime natural world of my backyard. Now I feel more intimately connected to the lives of moths and other creatures that contribute to my property’s biodiversity. I won’t wait until next year to hold another Moth Night. I’ve caught the moth bug.

Harris’s Three-Spot (Harrisimimna trisignata). © Edie Parnum. Click to enlarge.

——- For additional photographs of moths, see Moth Photo Gallery below —–

Edie’s Bait Recipe

One or two overripe bananas, mashed
Dollop of molasses
Small scoop of brown sugar
Glug or two of beer (stale is ok)

No need to be precise. Mix together and adjust proportions to create a pancake batter consistency.
Leave it for a day or two in a warm place. I like to take it outside for a few hours to let bees and flies add their contributions.
With a paint brush, smear this concoction at eye level on tree trunks about an hour or two before sunset.

Resources

Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Northeastern North America by David Beadle and Seabrooke Leckie, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012
BugGuide. www.bugguide.net Images of moths and other insects Can submit ID request
Butterflies and Moths of North America. www.butterfliesandmoths.org Images of butterflies and moths. Can submit ID request
Moths of Eastern United States. http://www.facebook.com/groups/MothsoftheeasternUS Facebook group for members to post images and discuss sightings

Significant Native Plants to Host Moth Caterpillars