[ncsc-moths] A Passion for Moths--My 2010 Moth Big Year

Snowflakes are falling as I type.  Winter has arrived in the High Country
and, I'm afraid, the end of the moth season for 2010.  So now is the time to
summarize my season long quest to see as many species of moths as possible
at a single location.  I hope the following account of my mothing big year
will be interesting and inspriring to those of you out there who share a
passion for the nocturnal leps.

I have been interested in moths for the past ten years or so (noting new
species in my tattered copy of Covell) but only started keeping detailed
records in 2009, shortly after moving to Watauga County.  In 2010 it became
an obsession when sometime in June I added up the species I had recorded for
the year and was stunned that I had close to 300 species and summer had
barely begun!  I then set my first goal, 500 species, which seemed at the
time both realistic and reasonably ambitious.  When I hit 500 species in
early August, I decided to just keep at it full bore and vowed to keep the
lights on and check the sheets until the last moth flew (or I was evicted
from the premises by my long suffering partner!).  I was also inspired by
the efforts of the Tennessee moth'ers who had gotten together in the spring
and decided to undertake an ambitious effort to document all of the moths in
their state in 2010.

Before I get into the details of the big year, let me just say that I find
moths infinitely interesting.  For one thing, they are beautiful insects
that have an incredible diversity of shapes, patterns, and palettes--even
the ones that at first glance appear brown and dull reveal intricate
patterns and subtly beautiful colors at closer inspection.  Sorry, diurnal
lepsters, but butterflies don't have anything on moths!  And another thing
about moths.  They are ubiquitous and abundant and exist in almost endless
diversity filling every conceivable ecological niche.  And they literally
come to you--you don't have to go and chase them!  Digital photography has
really opened up the moth world to closer examination and has become an
essential identification tool.

In 2010, I recorded *632* species of moths in my backyard, starting with a
Grote's Pinion (*Lithophane grotei*) on March 8 and ending with *Acrolepiopsis
heppneri* (a micromoth in the family Acrolepiidae) on November 3.

Details follow:

*Location*:  All moths were recorded in my yard or in a few instances at
mobile light stations set up on my property within a 1/4 mile of my house.
My farm is located in northern Watauga County, NC about 15 miles north of
Boone and less than one mile from the Tennessee border.  It is located in
the headwaters of the North Fork of the New River and is about 3,400 feet
elevation.  Snake Mountain (elevation--5,580 feet) is the dominant local
topographic feature; the summit is about 3 miles due south.  Habitat is
early to mid-successional mesic northern hardwoods (containing patches of
older growth forest) with a narrow open riparian zone and nearby pastures.
The area around my property is very rural and dominated by a mosaic of open
pasture and hardwood forest with abundant small streams and
springs/seepages.  The only evergreens are scattered fraser fir christmas
tree plantations and planted white pine stands.

*Equipment*:  My equipment consisted of 2 sheets lighted by one 160 MV lamp
located in the front yard near a small stream; one towel mounted on the
sheltered wall of the house under the porch roof, lighted by a single 15W
fluorescent blacklight; and a porch light lighted by a 15W compact
fluorescent white light.  I also experimented with a sugar bait concoction
that I painted on a tree in the front yard.  I did this periodically
throughout the season and was rewarded with at least a dozen species that
never came in to my lights.

My general routine was to turn the lights on around sunset and check the
sheets for 1-4 hours each night, first in the early evening between dusk and
midnight and again in the early morning between 3-7am (pre-dawn), leaving
the lights on all night.  I tried to take multiple photographs of each moth
that I did not recognize and also photos of fresh specimens of all
species.for photodocumentation.

All of my photographs were taken with a Panasonic GH-1 using a 45mm (90mm
slr equivalent) macro lens.  The images were downloaded daily into my
computer where I would begin the arduous task of sorting and identifying the
photos to species.  The identification process sometimes took days and even
weeks.  I relied primarily on the images on Moth Photographers Group and
Bugguide websites and also consulted moth guidebooks such as Covell's Moths
of Eastern North America.  Occasionally, I would send photos off for
identification help, sometimes to Bugguide but also to moth experts.  I took
over 9,000 images during the season and have photodocumentation for about
80% of the 632 species identified.

I entered the data on an excel spreadsheet that I stumbled upon on the
internet which contained a database of over 1,600 species of moths recorded
in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Over 90% of the moths I've
recorded in Watauga County are in this database.

*Summary*:  I kept track of the nights that I actually checked the sheets
and photographed moths, by month.  The tally (monthly species total followed
by mothing nights) is as follows:

March:  9 spp; 7 nights;
April:  55 spp; 20 nights;
May:  146 spp; 20 nights;
June:  approx. 200 spp; 15 nights;
July:  272 spp; 30 nights;
August:  214 spp; 28 nights;
September:  187 spp; 24 nights;
October:  87 spp; 22 nights;
November:  7 spp. 2 nights.

*Grand Total:  632 spp; 168 observation nights.*

The first moth of the season was Grote's Pinion (*Lithophane grotei*) seen
at my sugar maple sap buckets on March 8 (with a foot of snow still on the
ground!).  Moths were few and far between until the first really mild nights
of mid-late April when species diversity and numbers increased
substantially. My first exciting find was an Immigrant Pinion (*Lithophane
oriunda*) seen at my sugar bait station in early April.  Recognizing its
rarity, I sent off pics to various experts who corroborated the
identification and confirmed the first record for this species in North
Carolina!  May and June brought an endless number of new species including
many micros and many geometers.  They also brought the first big boys, the
larger sphinx and saturn moths. July was the peak month of moth diversity
with 272 species recorded.  August brought the first of the fall flying
moths such as the borers (genus *Papaipema*) and September/October heralded
the arrival of various noctuids collectively known as darts, pinions, and
sallows.  One of my favorite moths, the Large Tolype, made multiple
appearances during these months.  The final moth of the season was
*Acrolepiopsis
heppneri, *an interesting micromoth in the obscure family Acrolepiidae,
noted on November 3.

Of the 632 species, 209 species were the so-called micros- families such as
the torts (Tortricidae), grass-veneer moths (Crambidae), pyralids
(Pyralidae), and plume moths (Pterophoridae)--122 species of geometers
(Geometridae), 13 sphinx moths (Sphingidae), 24 prominents
(Notodontidae), 19 tiger moths (Arctiidae), and 221 species of owlet moths
(Noctuidae).  One of my favorite groups, the Underwings (genus *Catocala*),
were represented by 16 species.

I should mention that I missed a number of day-flying moths that are not
attracted to lights such as the wasp mimics in the family Sesiidae, some of
the day-flying sphinxes such as bumblebee clearwing, and many others.  I
also do not claim that my list is 100% accurate--in fact, I'm sure there are
some mis-id's. I tried to be conservative and only record those species I
was reasonably sure about and in some cases I left the identification at the
genus level.  But moth identification can be very challenging and there are
many pitfalls one must traverse in the process:  bad lighting or angle in
the photograph can obscure important details; many species can only be
identified by genitalic dissection and are visually inseparable; many
species are not represented by photos (or the photos are low quality) on the
various websites; some species are highly variable and come in many
different color forms; many moths that are worn and have lost many of their
scales simply cannot be identified; etc.  I'm guessing that of the total
number of moth images that I took over the season, unidentified
images amounted to about 5-10 % of the total.

To put my record in perspective, there are probably at least 2,400 species
of moths in North Carolina; however, no one knows for sure because there is
no official published list (although I hear rumors that Steve Hall at the NC
Natural Heritage Program is working on this).  This compares to 174 species
of butterflies known in the state.  Parker Backstrom, an avid moth'er in
Chatham County, has recorded, I believe, around 700 species in and around
his property over several years.  Bob Patterson in Maryland probably holds
the record for the most moths recorded at a single site--1000+ species-- but
his record is cumulative over many years.  I am not aware of anyone who has
attempted a big year for moths but I'd be interested in hearing about it if
anyone knows.

I should also say that I don't think my location is particularly exceptional
in terms of moth diversity.  I am fortunate to live in the country and have
an abundance of natural habitats around me but I think my number could
easily be duplicated (or exceeded) by anybody dedicated and crazy enough to
devote the necessary time and energy required. Dave Beadle, the author of
the upcoming field guide to moths, tells me that he has recorded over 500
species in his tiny backyard in downtown Toronto, Canada that is less than
100 square feet!

I want to thank Bo Sullivan, Parker Backstrom, Dave Beadle and Steve Hall
for their inspiration, comraderie, and identification assistance.  Special
thanks go to my partner, Gabby Call, for her infinite patience,
understanding and encouragement.  Thanks also are due all of the folks on
the North Carolina and Tennessee moth listserves who provided much
inspiration and encouragement.

Looking back on the year, it has been a thrill to observe and learn about
such an amazing diversity of creatures, literally at my doorstep.  Beauty
and the diversity of life exemplified by tiny creatures that are right in
front of us but we know so little about.  I've developed a greater
appreciation for the small things and hope that others will too.  Moths are
just cool, period.  I hope that all of you out there who are already bitten
will share your passion with others.  And for those of you who have not paid
much attention to moths, I hope you will give them a second look.  I'm
eagerly anticipating the arrival of Dave Beadle's moth guide due in 2012--
think back ten years ago when butterflying took off after publication of
Glassberg's guide.  And there is so much potential for folks to make
contributions to science by simply observing and keeping records of these
creatures; even basic life history information (flight season, food plants,
etc) for many species is not known.  And you never know, you may have a new
species unknown to science waiting to be discovered right in your backyard.
I can't imagine anything more exciting than that possibility.  And finally,
the most important thing to remember is that moths (and most other insects)
exist in such profusion because of their long and intricate co-evolution
with the plant kingdom--the conservation of biodiversity is the most
important task and responsibility that we humans face.

If anyone is interested in a list of the species please contact me offline
and I'll send it to you.  And just in case I see any new species between now
and December 31st, I'll be sure to post an update.

Good mothing!


J. Merrill Lynch
Echo Valley Farm
Watauga County, NC
Elevation:  3,400 feet

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