Top 12 of 2012, Backyard Moths

2012 was pretty crappy in the way of my freelance business but it was a pure gold mine in the way of moths. My plan for Moth Season 2012 was pretty simple, set up a station 3-4 nights out of the week & record the species that showed up. While getting bored of just photographing them on the sheet in 2011, I did what any photographer would do and built a small portable studio. It is pretty fancy and cost a whole 20 dollars to make, unless you add in the cost of strobes.

My backyard moth station consists of a 400 Watt Mercury Vapor Light, a Queen Size white sheet and a lot of containers. The studio is make out of an old box, which I designed after a swoop table, one flash over the top and one flat panel flash under the white background. This sits right near the light on an old card table I picked up at a yard sale.

Using this system and my new light which was nicknamed MorningStar, I was able to photograph over 300 species of moths in my backyard alone. This count excludes Micro Moths and add in another 200 for field trips & moth nights elsewhere. Now not all of these moths were "lifers" but I like to reset my count every year. I feel that it is a fun way to keep me in tune with what's flying and also keep a population count or a high count for individual moth species per year.

So hear are some of my favorite moth visitors from 2012, in Latin Alphabetical Order.

1. Agrotis ipsilon - Ipsilon Dart (Male)

2. Amphipyra pyramidoides - Copper Underwing

3. Anicla infecta - Green Cutworm Moth

4. Anomis privata - Hibiscus Leaf Caterpillar Moth

5. Atteva aurea - Ailanthus Webworm Moth

6. Ceratomia amyntor - Elm Sphinx

7. Ceratomia catalpae - Catalpa Sphinx

8. Cisseps fulvicollis - Yellow-collared Scape Moth

9. Hypena baltimoralis - Baltimore Hypena

10. Hypena madefactalis - Gray-edged Bomolocha

11. Marathyssa inficita - Dark Marathyssa

12. Zale lunata - Lunate Zale

Movin' On Up!

As most of you readers have figured out by now, this Photog is a little crazy about moths. Now there is even more reason to be Madder Than Moth, I've been named as a sponsor for National Moth Week.
This is quite exciting for me and goes to show that donating some of your photos can lead to big things.

So don't forget to ready your sheets & lights, because soon July 23-29th will soon be upon us. Before then Seabrooke Leckie's book will be available, which is a must for any moth'er! I will be luck enough to moth with her & the Friends of the EBEC on May 10th. Swoon!

With the book, I bet one can get a moth setup going for less than 50 bucks. I mean you already have a sheet, flashlight & a light socket, right? Now ya need a few UV bulbs, maybe one of those Y adapters for a socket and a nice six pack.

Moth'ers Delight & Big Jup

For those who do not know, next July 23-29, 2012 will be the First National Moth Week. Hopefully people across the country will set up a light and sheet to explore some night time nature. Be forewarned once you do it is very addictive. So check out the site, start a moth group in your area and sign up. You might even see some familiar photos in the header. Here is a little taste.

Macro & Micro Moths

On a different note, last night Jupiter was visible. So once again I tried my hand at Astrophotography. Not that great but I'm getting there. This image is a comp one exposure for the Moon and one for Jupiter. Moon exposure was 1/125 @ f11 and Jupiter was 3sec @ f11. I tried the 600 / lens length @ wide open but was getting to much flare from the moon so I went back to what I know.