Moths of August

August seems to be the best month of the year for moth activity in Massachusetts, though it's hard to tell for sure with less than 2 years of moth-watching under my belt. This year seems like it has been a bit of an off year in terms of moths, but I've started to keep track of the moths I see every night in my little nature notebook. I plan to have a much better understanding of the nature of my area of Massachusetts within a few years, especially in the areas not easily found in books, like moths. Anyways, here are some of the moths I managed to get pictures of this past August. I'm fairly certain about the IDs, but I'm open to any corrections.

Blurry Chocolate Angle Macaria transitaria

Goldenrod Hooded Owlet Cucullia asteroides

One-Spotted Variant Hypagyrtis unipunctata

Celery Looper Anagrapha falcifera

Master's Dart Feltia herilis

Unarmed Wainscot Leucania inermis

Large Maple Spanworm Prochoerodes lineola

Large Maple Spanworm Prochoerodes lineola

Clover Looper Caenurgina crassiuscula

Copper Underwing Amphipyra pyramidea

Large Maple Spanworm Prochoerodes lineola

Pink-Spotted Dart Pseudohermonassa bicarnea

Pondside Pyralid Moth Munroessa icciusalis

Curve-Toothed Geometer Eutrapela clemataria

Blackberry Looper (tan morph?) Chlorochlamys chloroleucaria

Unarmed Wainscot Leucania inermis

Pale Beauty Campaea perlata

Mint-Loving Pyrausta Moth Pyrausta acrionalis

Copper Underwing with an Oblong-Winged Katydid

Dingy Cutworm Moth Feltia jaculifera

Armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda

Sensitive Fern Borer Papaipema inquaesita

Master's Dart Feltia herilis

Highlights of the Night: July (and some from June)

Moth season seems to really take off in late June, and by July it is in full swing, with some nights having 100s of moths. Here are some of the highlights.

Rotund Idia Moth

Horned Spanworm Moth

One-Spotted Variant? (Not quite sure on this one, it looks unusual)

White-Blotched Balsa (boring moth, but not many pictures of it online)

Himmelman's Plume Moth

Glossy Black Idia (My new favorite species of moth)

Glossy Black Idia (came back the next night)

Glossy Black Idia

Blackberry Looper

Red-Fringed Emerald

Brown-Lined Owlet Moth (another boringish moth with few pictures)

Clover Looper

Another Red-Fringed Emerald

Northern Bush Katydid (identified by the tail, can't see it in this pic)

Soybean Looper

Red-Headed Inchworm Moth

Maple Looper Moth

Northern Bush Katydid on another night

Bent-Lined Gray

Lesser Maple Spanworm Moth (on June 30, I counted 165 of these flying around the porch light, and that was likely an underestimate)

Large Maple Spanworm

The Wedgeling

Blurry Chocolate Angle

Variable Antepione

August promises to be another great month for moths. I've already identified 41 new moths for me, and 74 moths in total so far this year.

Moth season underway

When I'm very busy with work and am prevented from going out birdwatching like the last two months, the moths are the ones that bail me out, and they've started to come out in full force the last few weeks. So far I haven't seen very many new species for me, but the season is just getting under way. Many of the moths that I've seen so far are some of the very recognizable ones I saw several times last year. So here are the moths:

Toothed Brown Carpet

Pink-Barred Pseudeustrotia - what a mouthful

Porcelain Gray, not a very showy moth

Pale-Marked Angle, also not showy

Brown Bark Carpet

Pale-Marked Angle & Brown Bark Carpet

Green Pug - these have been out consistently for several weeks now 

One-Spotted Variant, usually one or two show up every night

Grape Leaffolder species pair (there's two very closely related species that look exactly the same, in the genus Desmia, so bugguide.net calls them a species pair

Sharp-Angled Carpet

Another picture of a Sharp-Angled Carpet

Finally! A really cool moth: the Wavy-Lined Emerald

Yellow-Fringed Dolichomia

Yellow-Fringed Dolichomia

Lesser Maple Spanworm, first seen on 6/19 and so far every non-rainy night since. They've only maxed out at 7 so far this year, but one night last summer I counted 42!

First Blackberry Looper of the year, one that seemed to show up often but unpredictably last year

Common Idia, a moth that I personally think looks pretty cool, though American Idias look cooler)