Backyard Report

June 26, 2015  •  Leave a Comment

The high early morning temperatures are making photography quite tricky.  A number of moths flew out of the trap as soon as I lifted the lid.  I did record 57 moths of 15 species so the numbers are continuing to increase.  Just 2 new moths for the year:

Yellow-dusted-Cream (Cabera erythemaria)
Dark Metanema (Metanema determinata)

The Thoughtful Apamea (Apamea cogitata), shown below, has just started to appear in the light trap.  This is another one of the very common backyard moths.  The Flame-shouldered Dart (Ochropleura implecta) was recorded on the 12th June.  Normally very active and difficult to photograph no matter what the temperatures.

THAP FSD


Backyard Report

June 25, 2015  •  Leave a Comment

There were approximately 49 macro moths of 17 species in my light trap last night.  I say, approximately, as a few got away before I could photograph them.  The warm overnight weather means they are quite active even at 6:30am.  8 were new for the year but there were no completely new species.  The new ones for the year were:

Common Idia (Idia aemula)
Putnam's Looper (Plusia putnami)
White-lined Quaker (Apamea niveivenosa)
Glassy Cutworm (Apamea devastator)
Civil Rustic Moth (Platyperigea montana)
Cloudy Arches Moth (Polia imbrifera)
Divergent Dart (Euxoa divergens)
Catocaline Dart (Cryptocala acadiensis)

The Vancouver Dart (Agrotis vancouverensis) is another very common backyard moth.  The Blind-eyed Sphinx Moth (Paonias excaecata) photograph was taken in the Okanagan.

LP1k VD8K IMG_12471k


June 24th

June 24, 2015  •  Leave a Comment

It was fairly quiet in the Light trap this morning.  There were 24 macro moths of 9 species with 3 being new for the year.

Pepper & Salt Geometer (Biston betularia cognataria)
Apamea commoda
Olive Arches (Lacinipolia olivacea)

Olive Arches (Lacinipolia olivacea) and Bristly Cutworm (Lacinipolia renigera) moths are two of the most common moths that I record in my backyard.

The other moth photograph is a Single-dotted Wave (Idaea dimidiata) which was taken in the Okanagan.

Untitled_Panorama1A Untitled_PanoramaC Single-dotted Wave Moth (Idaea dimidiata)


June 23rd–New Moth

June 23, 2015  •  Leave a Comment

I’ve just returned from a weeks vacation in the southern Okanagan.  I’ll include a few moths from the Okanagan in the next couple of blogs.

Last night there were 29 macro moths of 16 species in my Calgary backyard light trap.  9 of these were new species for the year.  One of these was a moth that I haven’t recorded before, a Small Phoenix Moth (Ecliptopera silaceata).  The other new species were:

American Idia (Idia americalis)
Yellow-headed Cutworm Moth (Northern Quaker) (Apamea amputatrix)
Apamea alia
Thoughtful Apamea (Apamea cogitata)
Garden Arches (Lacanobia radix)
Bristly Cutworm Moth (Lacinipolia renigera)
Many-lined Wainscot (Leucania multilinea)
Rosy Dart (Diarsia rosaria)

The One-eyed Sphinx Moth (Smerinthus cerisyi) is an Okanagan photograph.  These moths appear to be quite common in the area.

Small Phoenix Moth (Ecliptopera silaceata) Large IMG_1214


Another good moth night

June 11, 2015  •  Leave a Comment

This morning I recorded 47 macro moths of 17 species.  This included yet another 2 new species.  A very nice Splendid Dagger Moth (Acronicta superans) and a Wormwood pug (Eupithecia absinthiata).  I must admit I sometimes overlook the pug species but this one caught my eye as it had some fairly prominent markings.  That brings my new backyard macro moth species for the year to 9.  And it’s only June! 

Other new species for the year were:

Morrison's Pero (Pero morrisonaria)
The Canary Thorn (Neoterpes trianguliferata)
Double-banded Carpet (Spargania magnoliata)
Dark-spotted Palthis (Palthis angulalis)
American Angle Shades (Euplexia benesimilis)
The Mottled Rustic (Brungult Lovfly) (Caradrina morpheus)
Intermediate Falconer (Cucullia intermedia)

sp wp MP CT DBC AAS

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