Finding Moths

Looking for moths is very easy. Many people just leave a porch light on and check what is attracted to the light. Others use blacklights and Mercury Vapor Lights that put out light in color spectrum that can be irresistible to moths. Special fermented baits are also used to draw moths in.  The best nights for “mothing” are in the summer on cloudy sultry nights with a chance of thunderstorms, but even mild late winter nights can be productive. Experiment, there is almost always something flying around…  

Click on the links below to learn how you can attract moths:

How to attract moths with a light set up

 

 

How to make and use bait 

 

 

How to have a Moth Party [Discover Life]

Mothing Resources: Books & Links

Read Blog posts about light set-ups

Read Blog pposts about bait

Photographing moths

 

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 W. J Holland‘s groundbreaking 1903 book The Moth Book: A Popular Guide to a Knowledge of the Moths of North America was at the time and for nearly 75 years afterwords (and even to some extent today),  the reference book on moths with color plates and natural history of thousands of species. Read his passage on the excitement of sugaring for moths.

While we take photographs on our moth nights, his collections were the basis for the plates in the book and for educating generations of entomologists and naturalists. But the thrill of the search on a sultry summer night is still the same.