Here's to pollinators!

 This week has been known as National Pollinator Week.While to many people, the concept of a pollinator brings up the image of a honey bee, which is indeed a pollinator, it is not native to North America. Yet for countless thousands of years, plants of North America were pollinated quite successfully, by numerous pollinators native to this continent. One of the groups of pollinating insects that doesn't get a lot of credit is moths.

Regular readers will already know that I have an affinity for moths. They are truly incredible for various reasons. Their night time vision must be quite remarkable, and has to be since most of them are the most active in what is darkness, to us.To add to their general capability to fly around at night, they have the ability to discern different wavelengths of light, and presumably can see the incredible patterns of their fellow moths. And while they are carrying out their night-time activities, they visit flowers and in the process, pollinate them.

I have had the black light out on quite a few occasions since late March. Certainly the handiest location is my back yard, so I can set it out on short notice and if inclement weather arrives or the temperature drops too low for moth action, I don't have far to go to retreat! In addition to home, I have so far had it set out at Rondeau and Clear Creek Forest provincial parks. There will be more such nights and locations, as well as (hopefully) one or more other locations that haven't even been sampled once yet.

Some moths aren't all that colourful, at least to human eyes. And even some of the normally quite colourful ones can appear very drab, especially if they have been around for awhile and most of the scales that give them their pattern and colours are worn off. There are all too many of those that come to the sheet, and even after taking their photo and processing it to get the most colour and detail, they are still unidentifiable.

Here is a sample of some of the most interesting and colourful ones I have photographed this season, starting with ones from my own back yard. This first one is a Common Looper.

Next is a Confused Euscaria (not sure why it is confused.....)

The largest one I have had come to my sheet so far is this Elm Sphinx, with a body length of about 5.5 cm. It arrived all a-flutter and then left. I wasn't sure if I was going to get a chance to photograph it or not, but about half an hour later it arrived and stayed in the same spot until closing time, allowing me to get photos like this.

This next one has a very distinctive, but somewhat variable, pattern. One of the common names is the Hairnet Acleris.

A new one for me this year is this Juniper Webworm.

One of the smallest, but colourful ones I periodically get is this Metallic Case Bearer. It has a body length of about 8 mm.

This next one, while not all that colourful, was one I first came across about three years ago. When I uploaded it to iNaturalist, it was rejected, as this particular group of moths had not been recognized in Ontario before. It is the Mimosa Webworm.

Looking a bit like an airplane is the very distinctive group of Plume Moths. This is the Morning-glory Plume Moth.

Another very tiny, but colourful moth is the Orange-headed Epicallima Moth. It's body length is about 6-7 mm.

Another first for me was this Oregon Cycnia. It looks velvety smooth and delicate, and is actually a little larger than average. The distinctive white veins against the grayish-white wing help distinguish it from similar looking moths.

Yet another first for me is this Red-streaked Mompha, again very small at only about 7 mm.

Clear Creek Forest Prov Park is again, proving to be quite a hot spot for moths. We didn't start there last year until the last part of July, so in order to check on what earlier species were around, we set up for a few hours on a couple of occasions already, and as the mosquitoes present a major obstacle at other spots, we will again turn our efforts more intensively to Clear Creek Forest.

Here is a small sample of the distinctive or colourful highlights so far, starting with the Black-patched Clepsis.

Quite subtly patterned, but velvety smooth and in great condition is this Broken-banded Leafroller.

A fairly regular one, and on the larger size compared to many, is this Close-banded Yellowhorn, named, presumably for its yellowish antennae

There are quite a few members of the Grass-veneer group. These are the ones that flutter up in the grass, then drop down and disappear under a blade of grass as they fold up their wings. This is the Eastern Grass-veneer.

Some members of the Tiger Moth group are boldly patterned, with subtle differences that distinguish the individual species. This is the Harnessed Tiger Moth.

Very distinctly patterned is this Hickory Tussock Moth.

Members of the Silk Moth group are highly sought after, partly due to their bold pattern and large size. This one is known as an Io Moth. When slightly disturbed it will open its wings to display the huge dark eyes, which may cause a potential predator to move on. This individual is quite yellowish, and more the norm....

...I seldom have seen this slightly darker colour.

On the very small end of the scale is this Narrow Bucculatrix, at about 6 mm.

Slightly larger is this Packard's Caloptilia, in a group of moths known for having longer forelegs giving the appearance of being propped up.

Back to the larger size, is this Virginia Creeper Sphinx. This is a normal colour pattern, but later in the post I will show quite a different appearance.

This one was new for me as well. It is the Zeller's Ethmia, and is quite small as you can tell by the comparative weave of the sheet.

Lastly, here are a few of the colourful or distinctive ones encountered at Rondeau on the three separate occasions we've had the light up so far. This first one is the Common Spring Moth.

Here is a Green Leuconycta, looking quite fresh. I photographed another one of this species that was missing all of its greenish scales and it looked quite pale indeed.

This is the Muzaria Euchlaena.

Another new one for me was this Orange Virbia. It may have come to my lights before, but it is very tiny so could have missed it amongst the many hundreds of midges.

This next one is the Pale-winged Crocidophora. It has a distinctive shiny, crinkled part of its forewing.

One of the brightest moths, although not overly large, is this Scarlet-winged Lichen Moth.

Some members of the slug moth group have their abdomen curled up over their heads. This is the Shagreened Slug Moth.

Not all of the moths come to the sheet. The Shagreened Slug Moth came to a plastic box nearby, and this next one, The Beggar, came to my lower pant leg. It made it difficult to get the camera and macro lens at a good angle to keep the moth in good focus.

This is another example of Virginia Creeper Sphinx, not showing much pattern at all compared to the one above.

Another slug moth is this Yellow-collared Slug Moth.

So here is to moths, and pollinators! At the moment, we have photographed more than 550 species of moths at Rondeau and in less than a year, almost 350 species at Clear Creek Forest. There will be more posts on black lighting to come, and likely featuring some of the colourful non-moth species that are also attracted to the sheet.