a brown-shaded gray moth
I don’t know about you, but I am getting tired of scrolling through the endless options, searching for something new to watch on TV every night. At the moment, so many of the usual activities—concerts, sporting events, etc.— are not an option. So last week I decided to leave the couch behind. I stepped outside onto the back porch, pulled up a chair, and watched the backyard instead.
As I sat there I remembered summers in Maine when I slept in the loft of an A-frame cabin, tucked into the ash and fir tree forest. At night, I propped up my pillow and turned on the lamp to read. It wouldn’t be long before a flutter of moths would start to plink and plunk against the windows. I was mesmerized by the diversity of shapes, sizes, and patterns that would arrive and bring the darkness to life. It quickly turned into a mini-battle with each new arrival pushing the others out of the way, vying for the spot closest to the light. Sometimes the moths would be there in the morning, secretive and still, clinging to the side of the wall right outside the front door. Back then, my favorite was always the luna moth— an enormous moth whose spectacular, mint-green wings stood out from the rest of the usual grays and browns.
Unlike butterflies, moths are active at night. Perfect. I decided it was time to try mothing on the back porch in Texas. The next night I hung a white sheet from the wall and propped up a blacklight flashlight on the table so that it illuminated the entire sheet. (This can also be as simple as turning on your porch light.) Then I waited.
simple setup
Before long, moths began landing on the sheet. The patterns on their wings were striking and often geometric. They looked like lichen or flecks of bark or pieces of a dead leaf, beautiful examples of camouflage. For a time my husband joined me, and the next morning my teenage sons reported what they had seen long after I had gone to bed. Even the four cats gathered around the windows. The porch had become a hub of activity. Sure, it was not an ordinary family activity, but at my house the boys were used to that.
In the morning, I turned off the light, took pictures, and then watched the moths slowly fly away, one by one. I sat down with two field guides: Peterson’s Field Guide to Moths and Moths and Caterpillars of the North Woods. I know. I live in the South, but I love the north woods guide because it shows pictures of the caterpillars and a list of their food plants, too. Plus many of the species or something similar can be found in the South. Okay, actually I just love flipping through the gorgeous photographs and staring at the moths. Can you believe there is a moth called the laughter and another called the asteroid?
I also took a few minutes to upload my pictures to iNaturalist, a great app for keeping track of the wildlife in your yard and a quick way to ID species. (If you are a beginner naturalist, Seek by iNaturalist may be a better option.) I started a list of moths that had visited the porch that night: cellar graphics, dimorphic grays, ilia underwings, signate loopers, live oak metrias, brown-shaded grays, and cobbler moths.
You know, I think I will leave the sheet up as a permanent fixture on the back porch. I am curious to find out if we will see different species throughout the year. I also noticed a gecko creeping along the edge of the roof like a ninja. What other creatures will join us? Stay tuned.
an ilia underwing moth
a cellar graphic moth - my favorite of the night
Tip. Not sure if you are looking at a butterfly or a moth? Here are a few quick ways to tell the difference:
most moths have feather-like antennae, butterflies have club-shaped antennae
most moths have stocky, furry bodies, butterflies’ bodies are more streamlined
most moths rest with their wings open, butterflies with their wings held together
most moths are active at night, butterflies are active during the day