National Moth Week July 19-27, 2014

National Moth Week is July19 to 27, 2014.   The "Week" is actually nine days and the "National" is really global, referring to whatever nation you're in.

It's a week in which you can contribute as a citizen scientist to knowledge about moths, by simply doing as I do year-round: Leave your porch lights/garage lights on for about an hour and then go out and photograph all the different moths and send them to one of the organizations listed at the website for National Moth Week (http://nationalmothweek.org/).  

I send my photos to BAMONA Butterflies and Moths of North America) for identification and recording in their database.  You don't have to identify moths yourself--I, for one, can't do that.  The experts do that for you!

I'm excited to notice the "moth week" site lists "iNaturalist" as one of the sites to submit photos to, because that site was mentioned today in an article in today's Sunday Columbus Dispatch (www.dispatch.com) about a study showing that "Species of plants and animals are becoming extinct at least 1,000 times faster than they did before humans arrived on the scene..."

The study's lead author is biologist Stuart Pimm of Duke University.  Pimm cites the "iNaturalist" as one of the smartphone applications that will help locate species in trouble, with data submitted by citizen scientists.

National Moth Week would be a good chance to try your hand at being a citizen scientist, even if for 15 to 60 minutes on one day that week, and do your part globally to find out if any moth species are in trouble.

The "Moth Week" website, as one answer to the question of "Why Moths?", says that, "Their colors and patterns are either dazzling or so cryptic that they define camouflage."

Here are some photos of moths I saw on May 31, that illustrate the point that moths are not all dull and bland, as some that we see in the daytime are.  The problem with the nocturnal moths is that we can't see their true colors and patterns unless we photograph them.

Heliomata cycladata, Common Spring Moth.   This is a good example of one with dazzling colors.

Cerma cerintha, Tufted Bird-Dropping Moth.  Although I would have cited this for its dazzling colors, once I found out its name, I realize that it's a better example of cryptic camouflage colors--unfortunately what looks lovely to us looks like bird shit to its predators!

 

Bumblebee Watch

I like citizen science programs so much that I just signed up for "Bumblee Watch" (http://www.bumblebeewatch.org) after reading about it in the April/May 2014 issue of "National Wildlife" magazine.

I like projects like this in which I can send in photos of bugs "in the wild", without capturing or harming them, and get them identified by experts.  It gives me the kind of positive feedback I need to go on with a task like that and not give up.  Plus I help researchers conserve species.

I've been doing that with Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA) at (http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org) for about a year.  In that time, with no knowledge or interest in moths, I was able to bring the total number of moths identified on that site for Knox County, Ohio, from 13 to more than 30.  And I have only been in this county for just under 2 years!

When you send photos, you can say, "I think this is a moth." or "I think this is a butterfly." or "I don't even know if it's a moth or a butterfly."  And you can go farther, if you can, and suggest which moth or butterfly it is.  With the help of a simple guide such as the Ohio Department of Natural Resources booklet on common butterflies of Ohio, you can quickly learn to identify a good 20 or more common butterflies.   Moths are harder, but you can suggest id's when you photograph a moth that looks like one you sent in and got identified by an expert.


"Bumblebee Watch" is intended to help save bumblebees.  The "National Widlife" article refers to a new analysis finding that "almost a third of North American bumblee species are declining, and some are threatened with extinction".   The article states that "four once-common...species have vanished from large portions of their former ranges.  A fifth may already be extinct.  Scientists are seeing similar losses in Europe, South America and Asia".

This can be a real loss to pollination, already threatened by the decline in European honeybee colonies.  Pollination by native bees is an important backup to honeybees.  They are more efficient pollinators than honeybees as well.

For information on other citizen science projects, please go to the "Citizen Science" button on the menu of my website at http://www.doncomis.simplesite.com.