A few more Waterton mothsI spent last weekend about 30 minutes drive north of Waterton National Park. After a week of heavy rain I wasn’t surprised when there were only 3 or 4 moths in the light trap on Saturday morning. However, to use a cliché, what a difference a day makes! After a dry and mostly sunny day on Saturday, Sunday morning revealed a very nice selection of moths, including 3 species of Sphinx moth (4 species over the 2 days) and a Glover's Silkmoth (Hyalophora gloveri). So it seems that the moths are out there just waiting for some dry weather. Aren’t we all… Anyway, here are some photographs. I’ve included 2 One-eyed Sphinx Moth (Smerinthus cerisyi) individuals as they show some colour variation. I struggled to get a decent opened winged shot of the silkmoth so this is the best I could do. The closed wing photograph is an improvement over last years attempt.
No light trap but one macro mothPersistent rain and a storm stopped me from putting the light trap out last night. However, I was surprised to find a moth in the bait trap. Just a single macro moth but another first for the year, a Garden Arches (Lacanobia radix). It has been a slow start to the year but until it stops raining it’s hard to say what the moth situation is really like. I’ll be in Waterton again for the weekend so hopefully will pick up a few moths there. Of course, once again, that will be dependant on the weather…
Still very few mothsI had just one moth in the light trap on the 28th. However, it was a new species for the year. This is a very difficult group of moths to identify from photographs but I’m guessing at Agrotis vancouverensis. I didn’t put the light trap out last night because of the threat of rain. This, of course, meant that it was dry overnight...! Oh well. The weather for tonight looks a little iffy as well. Because of the lack of photographs I’ve added a Calliope Hummingbird photograph that I took during the week. This one put on quite an aerobatic display while defending it’s territory against another male hummingbird.
2 new backyard mothsJust 3 moths of 3 species in the light trap last night but this included 2 new backyard moths! One was only my second Heliothinae (flower moth), Darker Spotted Straw Moth (Heliothis phloxiphaga). The other new species was a dagger moth, Fragile Dagger Moth (Acronicta fragilis). That is, I’m reasonably confident it is Acronicta fragilis.
The rain stopped…Unfortunately, no moths to report on but I did get my first Canadian Tiger Swallowtail of the year and the Gray Catbirds are singing again. My bait trap is out and tonight should be drier so hopefully there will be some moths to report on tomorrow.
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