Birds, Bugs, and Botany: Leps

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Saturday, 26 December 2020

Yard Moths: 2020 Recap

This past late Spring and Summer was quite good for finding moths in my yard. The first time I set up my sheet was on April 5th, and the last time was on August 25th. I probably should have kept going throughout September, but due to a variety of reasons (early morning birding, school etc.), I ended up not doing so. From the end of May onwards, I was pretty good about setting up almost every single night if the conditions allowed. Not being in in-person school during the month of June really helped! In total, I ended up seeing 432 species of moths in my yard in 2020, and increased my all time list from about 350 species to 546 species. I usually saw at least one new yard moth every time I went out, and on some of my better nights, I would hit the double digits! The diversity on most nights was quite spectacular too. In late June and early July, I would often come very close or break 100 species for the night. It was certainly a really fun season!

In total, I had 36 families of moths visit my yard during the few months of mothing I did. Quite respectable I would say, especially for your run of the mill suburban backyard with very few mature trees and mostly ornamental plants surrounding it. I will list each family represented, along with a species total, and will throw in a few pretty pictures along the way :-)

HEPIALIDAE

Swift Moths - 1 species

Common Swift (Korscheltellus lupulina)

NEPTICULIDAE

Pygmy Moths - 2 species

OPOSTEGIDAE

White Eye-cap Moths - 1 species

Pseudopostega cretea

PRODOXIDAE

Yucca moths -1 species

TINEIDAE

Fungus and Clothes moths - 5 species

Pavlovski's Monopis (Monopis longella)

BUCCULATRICIDAE - 3 species

Crowned Bucculatrix (Bucculatrix coronatella)

GRACILLARIIDAE

Leafblotch Miner Moths - 11 species

YPONOMEUTIDAE

Ermine Moths - 2 species

YPSOLOPHIDAE

Sickle-winged Moths - 1 species

PLUTELLIDAE

Diamondback Moths - 1 species

GLYPHIPTERIGIDAE

Sedge Moths - 1 species

ARGYRESTHIIDAE

Shiny Head-standing Moths - 5 species

ATTEVIDAE - 1 species

AUTOSTICHIDAE - 2 species

OECOPHORIDAE - 2 species

Orange-headed Epicallima (Epicallima argenticictella)

DEPRESSARIIDAE

Flat Moths - 4 species

COSMOPTERIGIDAE

Cosmet Moths - 3 species

GELECHIIDAE

Twirler Moths - 17 species

Dichomeris furia

ELACHISTIDAE

Grass Moths - 2 species

COLEOPHORIDAE

Casebearer Moths - 2 species

BATRACHEDRIDAE - 2 species

MOMPHIDAE - 3 species

Red-streaked Mompha (Mompha eloisella)

PTEROPHORIDAE

Plume Moths - 5 species

Buck's Plume Moth (Geina buscki)

TORTRICIDAE

Bell and Leafroller Moths - 80 species

Cochylis bucera

Dichrorampha leopardana

LIMACODIDAE

Slug Moths - 3 species

Skiff Moth (Prolimacodes badia)

PYRALIDAE

Pyralid Snout Moths - 28 species

CRAMBIDAE

Snout and Grass Moths - 40 species

Basswood Leafroller (Pantographa limata)

DREPANIDAE

Lutestring and Hooktip Moths - 3 species

Glorious Habrosyne (Habrosyne gloriosa)

LASIOCAMPIDAE

Tent Caterpillar and Lappet Moths - 3 species

SPHINGIDAE

Sphinx Moths - 4 species

Pandorus Sphinx (Eumorpha pandorus)

URANIIDAE - 1 species

Brown Scoopwing (Calledapteryx dryopterata)

GEOMETRIDAE

Geometer Moths - 59 species

Sharp-lined Yellow (Sicya macularia)

NOTODONTIDAE

Prominents - 10 species

Black-rimmed Prominent (Pheosia rimosa)

EREBIDAE

Tiger, Tussock, and Underwing Moths - 47 species

Judith's Underwing (Catocala judith)

NOLIDAE

Tuft Moths - 3 species

NOCTUIDAE

Owlet Moths - 73 species

Hologram Moth (Diachrysia balluca)

If you would look to see all of my observations of my 2020 yard moths that I uploaded to iNaturalist, you can see them here. I also compiled from backyard moth photos in this post back in July (a few of which are featured here).

It is amazing what you can see if you put in the effort. When I first started mothing in 2018, I never imagined I would be able to see over 400 species of moths in my yard in only a few short months!

It certainly was a very interesting year. I am already looking forward to being able to set up my sheet for the first time of the season!

Saturday, 3 June 2017

The Transition Period

Sad as it is, spring migration is virtually over.

But there is hope...this is the time of year that butterflies/moths (leps) and dragonflies/damsels (odes) start to appear in large numbers. These groups will entertain us until fall migration starts in a couple months. Today, I made my first trip of the year to look specifically to find some flying insects.

I started in my favourite spot to look for leps, a large open field adjacent to Sunngingdale Rd. and at the start/end of Uplands Trail. I can often find many skippers here. Today, I only saw a glimpse of one skipper, but there was quite a large number of Common Ringlets.

There was a tagged Monarch, but I was unable to get a photo or the tag number. A Virginia Ctenucha also didn't want it's picture taken.

An Eastern Tailed-Blue made an appearance.

There were a couple bluets, including Eastern Forktail.

Heading into the woods, I saw numerous larger species of dragonfly, such as Common Whitetail and what looked like a meadowhawk of some sort.

Heading deeper in the woods, there was a White-stripped Black moth.

Also see was one of my favourites, the Ebony Jewelwing.

Although things are still a bit slow, hopefully they will soon pick up!

Tuesday, 3 January 2017

2016 Lep, Ode, Herp, Mammal Year Lists

2016 was the first year I paid really any attention to Leps, Odes, Herps, and Mammals. Although my year list for each isn't all that impressive, I still ended up with a few dozen species. Listed in rough taxonomic order. Lifers are in Bold.