biscuit

Pondside Pyralid (Elophila icciusalis)

2017/06/24, Jaffrey NH

Saturday we dropped both kids off at Camp Mowglis for seven weeks, then I rode to Jaffrey with Monty to spend Saturday night there. Weather conditions were good, but we didn't have a huge variety of moth, except for this striking one, which was in the bucket in the morning. It took some prodding to get it out of the bottom of an egg carton (seemed to want to burrow) but it gave me a good photo opportunity before crawling under the leaf litter.

Little Virgin Tiger Moth (Grammia virguncula). Jaffrey NH, 06/25/2017.

Each evening in Jaffrey, the last thing to do at night is to walk around between moth light, living room doors and front door, to see what's been attracted to the lights. Sometimes the same moth will stay all night there, other times just visit for a few minutes and then be off again. This is a White Slant-Line (Tetracis cachexiata) on a painted door frame at Monty's house. 06/10/2017, Jaffrey NH.

I got up to find the moth bucket having been knocked over (probably just wind); I righted it carefully, and found a beautiful male luna moth clinging to one of the cords that hold the lid on. Monty coaxed it onto his fingers to go show the kids, then we tried to settle it into his rhododendron bush. I've seen one of these before, but it was Monty's first.

Luna Moth (Actias luna), Jaffrey NH, 06/11/2017.

Addendum: I initially posted this before opening the collecting bucket, which turned out to have two more male luna moths in it - one was lively enough to take to the air in majestic style once released, the other seemed worn and at the end of its life. Other than that, last night's haul brought (by the dozen) Hickory Tussock Moth (Lophocampa caryae) and Rosy Maple Moth (Dryocampa rubicunda), several of which are shown.