National Un-Moth Week?

This almost was the week that “wasn’t”. I can’t remember a time when I set aside a calendar week for a specific effort (National Moth Week) and soooo many things got in the way. The multitude of hurdles that Everyday Life presented from July 17-24 has been a bit overwhelming, especially for someone like myself who is admittedly poor at multi-tasking. Some of the hurdles were self-imposed (e.g. scheduling non-mothing social events in the evenings—What was I thinking?) and others were out of the blue. The most tragic was that just as NMW began, my beloved Canon SX620 IS point-and-hope camera decided to die. The sensors went haywire and it could no longer figure out what I meant to focus on or what settings to use. I have a couple of inferior back-up cameras which filled the gap, but in the end, I had to place an emergency camera order online—and of course the new hardware won’t arrive until after the end of National Moth Week.

Mother Nature didn’t cooperate fully either. We reeeally can’t complain here in CenTex when we’re having a July with below average temps (up until today) and above average rainfall. That’s all wonderful. But a couple of evenings of NMW were lost due to disruptive thunderstorms. Yeah, I know, “Woe is us.” One ill-timed bolt of lightning caused a very brief power outage at my house; my computer had to restart and then my photo editing software decided it had to check its entire library of 125,000 images for errors. Seven hours later, it finally announced that everything was OK and I could continue editing.

The organizers of NMW need to look more carefully at the lunar calendar. This past night, at the climax of NMW, we had a bright full moon. Rule number one in mothing, from fundamental moth behavior, is that nights with a full moon will end up with poor results at artificial lights. Note To NMW Organizers: Look at the lunar calendar for 2022 and figure out when the New Moon (i.e. no moon) will be in July! That should be your target week.

Here in CenTex with it’s high biodiversity, a really good night of mothing in optimal conditions in Spring or Fall might result in the documentation of something on the order of 100 to 150 species of moths. This past week, in several evenings and mornings of effort over seven calendar days, I may have about 55 species of moths to upload. That might seem high by some standards—Sorry, you folks at more northern latitudes—but by Texas standards, that’s rather pitiful.

In the end, I just have to laugh it all off and assert, “Wait ’til next year!”

Publicado el julio 24, 2021 08:11 TARDE por gcwarbler gcwarbler

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gcwarbler

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Julio 24, 2021 a las 05:19 MAÑANA CDT

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gcwarbler

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Julio 24, 2021 a las 05:23 MAÑANA CDT

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gcwarbler

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Julio 24, 2021 a las 05:22 MAÑANA CDT

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Polilla de Jardín (Clepsis peritana)

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gcwarbler

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Julio 22, 2021 a las 04:39 MAÑANA CDT

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gcwarbler

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Julio 22, 2021 a las 04:48 MAÑANA CDT

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gcwarbler

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Julio 24, 2021 a las 05:21 MAÑANA CDT

Descripción

Just one all week.

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gcwarbler

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Julio 22, 2021 a las 04:38 MAÑANA CDT

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I don't see this species often here on Salton Drive.

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gcwarbler

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Julio 20, 2021 a las 11:01 TARDE CDT

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gcwarbler

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Julio 17, 2021 a las 10:43 TARDE CDT

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Just one all week.

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Polilla Manchada de la Remolacha (Hymenia perspectalis)

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gcwarbler

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Julio 19, 2021 a las 10:36 TARDE CDT

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Just one all week.

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gcwarbler

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Julio 20, 2021 a las 11:02 TARDE CDT

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Polilla de Palo Verde (Melipotis acontioides)

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gcwarbler

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Julio 24, 2021 a las 05:18 MAÑANA CDT

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Only one for the week.

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Polilla de Cava (Melipotis cellaris)

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gcwarbler

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Julio 20, 2021 a las 05:14 MAÑANA CDT

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Only one for the week.

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Qué

Gusano Falso Medidor (Mocis latipes)

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gcwarbler

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Julio 22, 2021 a las 04:38 MAÑANA CDT

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Only one for the week.

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gcwarbler

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Julio 20, 2021 a las 05:15 MAÑANA CDT

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First for Salton Drive; uncommon in the Austin area.

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gcwarbler

Fecha

Julio 22, 2021 a las 04:46 MAÑANA CDT

Descripción

Much less common here than Jalisco. Only one for the week.

I also saw some interesting behavior from this moth: Occasionally when a Petrophila moth senses a danger, disturbance, or threat, it will briefly raise or flare its wings and then settle back down. This moth did that behavior repeatedly as some minute little Hymenopteran (presumably a would-be parasitic species) made several quick passes at the moth. I managed to capture one moment of that interaction on video. I'm still trying to figure out how to upload a short clip of that edited video.

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gcwarbler

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Julio 22, 2021 a las 04:37 MAÑANA CDT

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gcwarbler

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Julio 20, 2021 a las 11:01 TARDE CDT

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Only one for the week.

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gcwarbler

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Julio 17, 2021 a las 10:40 TARDE CDT

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gcwarbler

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Julio 24, 2021 a las 05:21 MAÑANA CDT

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gcwarbler

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Julio 22, 2021 a las 04:50 MAÑANA CDT

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gcwarbler

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Julio 24, 2021 a las 05:26 MAÑANA CDT

Descripción

Only individual all week.

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Comentarios

LOL, I can't but laugh!

Publicado por annikaml hace más de 2 años

Sorry for your bummer of a moth week. I was wondering about that full moon.

BTW, before the last Timberlake gathering, I bought a new point and shoot camera (same model) just in case mine crashed. For some reason, I was a bit apprehensive about my Canon. It is probably about time for me to go ahead and change out.
Thanks your your post. Sorry, but your woes had me smiling....

Publicado por connlindajo hace más de 2 años

Man, I'd say you've had your troubles for the year! So the rest of it should be clear sailing, right? To better times ahead!

Publicado por jcochran706 hace más de 2 años

I've got a big smile on this statement, Chuck:
"Rule number one in mothing, from fundamental moth behavior, is that nights with a full moon will end up with poor results at artificial lights."
Maddin Prairie says "hold my beer." ;)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?d1=2021-08-21&d2=2021-08-22&place_id=111150&taxon_id=47157&view=species

Publicado por sambiology hace más de 2 años

Chuck, your 124 species observed at Maddin Prairie looks pretty impressive to me!

Publicado por connlindajo hace más de 2 años

Sam, Rule number 1A: "Nights with a full moon produce poor results for mothing except if you're in Mitchell County, TX, accompanied by @sambiology and have 12 moths stations scattered over a 1/4 mile of prairie monitored by a bevy of enthusiastic iNatters."

Publicado por gcwarbler hace más de 2 años

Ooooooooh. I forgot to read that fine print. ;)
I actually am 'lol'ing. :)

Publicado por sambiology hace más de 2 años

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