[tn-moths] Re: Moth Blitz in Watauga County, NC, 17-19 June 2011
- From: Diana Stock-Prescott <diana.stockprescott@xxxxxxx>
- To: tn-moths@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2011 12:50:32 -0400
Sounds like a great time. I am so missing moths since the pest control guy
sprayed and haven't been able to get to other areas of Knox Co . Thanks for
sharing this fun time. Moth On!!
Diana Stock -Prescott
Knox Co, TN
On Jun 20, 2011, at 12:13 PM, J. Merrill Lynch wrote:
> Parker Backstrom came up for a weekend of mothing at Echo Valley this
> past weekend. My family was away visiting relatives so it was a great
> weekend of moth mania--we pretty much didn't do anything but mothing
> and eating--sleep was a distant third in priority.
>
> We started on Friday night with two extra sheets in addition to my
> standard setup and went at it from dusk until 2:30 am. Spent most of
> the daytime Saturday lounging around taking catnaps and compiling the
> list plus going through i'ds. Then Sat. night we tried remote mothing
> at a wetland site about a half hours drive away in Ashe County--that
> didn't work too well due to high winds and we gave up after about an
> hour of mothing. Then back to Echo Valley where we mothed until about
> 1 am. Sunday morning we had about an hour of mothing before the
> sunrise cafeteria opened for the local house wrens, towhees, and
> juncos. Parker left later that morning and I did another round Sunday
> night by myself until around 11:30 pm.
>
> Our final tally for 3 nights of mothing was 192 species plus about 10
> unidentified micros. Highlights were seven species of slug moths:
> Early Button, Abbreviated Button, Jeweled Tailed, Elegant Tailed
> (lifer for both of us), Yellow-shouldered, Yellow-collared, and
> Crowned. The Gold-spotted Ghost Moth made another appearance Sunday
> morning (probably the same individual I saw earlier in the week) and
> we had a cool new species of Gracillariidae, Caloptilia serotinella.
> Two lifer pyralids, Crowned Phlyctaenia and Hollow-spotted
> Blepharomastix, were a surprise plus two lifer Hermininids, Lettered
> Zanclognatha and Slant-lined Owlet Moths.
>
> My favorite of the weekend was Bog Deltote (Deltote bellicula), a
> lifer for both of us. I think Parker's may have been Hawthorn
> Underwing (Catocala crataegi); a lifer for him and the first Catocala
> of the season for Echo Valley.
>
> We considered this a training exercise for Moth Night coming up next
> month. Based on our experience this weekend, I think 200+ species in
> a single night is certainly in the realm of possibility. Some of my
> favorite images from this weekend's moth platter follow.
>
> --
> J. Merrill Lynch
> Echo Valley Farm
> Watauga County, NC
> Elevation: 3,400 feet
> <0637 Caloptilia serotinella.JPG><4661 Packardia elegans 2.JPG><4659
> Packardia geminata.JPG><9046 Deltote bellicula.JPG><8858 Catocala
> crataegi.JPG>
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