I was rather shocked to find 4 species in the first two days of January! Some of you may know that I am attempting a "big lep year" in conjunction with some other friends who are counting other things like birds, herps, mammals, spiders, and wildflowers in our local four county region in the foothills of western NC. We'll be blogging our way through the year at www.catawbavalleycrazybigyear.blogspot.com and we hope you'll find something that interests you along the way! But I also want to make sure that I have my identifications correct . . .so I'll be e-mailing a lot more to confirm with you guys before I make a post! Last night I had one Hypena scabra (Green Cloverworm Moth) and 5 (3 m / 2 f) Alsophila pometaria (Fall Cankerworm Moths); both of the females were laying eggs in the eaves of my roof line (see last photo) while the males fluttered around and finally settled near my porch light. This morning when I got to work--I was quite surprised to find a Costaconvexa centrostrigaria (Bent-line Carpet) along with 11 males Alsophia pometaria (Fall Cankerworm Moths) attracted to the lights on the educational building. I almost walked right past (well, I did three times) the last species which I am fairly confident is Acleris logiana (Black-headed Birch Leaffolder Moth)--this one I am a little unsure (see middle photo below) about but I gave it my best shot! Hope you all have a wonder day and get ready for our first real winter blast of the season! -- ----- Lori Owenby St. Stephens/Riverbend Park Ranger Catawba County Parks Conover, NC "The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself." ~Benjamin Franklin
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