Night Life!

Bright Lights and white sheets can be used to attract moths at night. In the right conditions, hundreds of moths can be viewed....if you're willing to stay up late! The following is a selection of some of these late night critters.

Small-eyed Sphinx

Tulip Tree Beauty

Maple Callus Borer

Banded Tussock Moth

Common Lytrosis Moth

A UV Flashlight is handy to scan plants in the area. You never know what you may find including this well camouflaged Goldenrod Crab Spider. Over the course of a few days, they can change colour to match their environment or the flower they are sitting upon. They enjoy warm sunny days because the food they like to eat (insects) come to the flowers on which they patiently wait.

https://spideridentifications.com/goldenrod-crab-spider.html

Goldenrod Crab Spider, heavily cropped photo

Unidentified Moth Caterpillar

Common Eastern Firefly

Giant Leopard Moth

Walnut Sphinx

White-dotted Prominent

Waved Sphinx

Dark Fishing Spider

Walnut Caterpillar Moth

Io Moths, wings closed

Io Moth

At the end of a moth night at a friend's house in Middlesex County, a few moths needed to be carefully lifted from the white sheet. (They didn't fly away when the lights were turned off.) The top 2 are Io moths (pronounced eye-oh). The lower one is a Small-eyed Sphinx. The large eye spots help to protect the moths as predators may view it as a large creature, much too large to attempt to eat.