Brigette Zacharczenko is a graduate student who studies caterpillars. Sometimes she catches moths, too. And snakes. And salamanders. And beetles. Basically anything that moves.She wrote about NMW on her caterpillarblog – larval adventures:
My blogging has been delinquent – I never got around to talking about National Moth Week last week!
The very first National Moth Week was July 23-29, celebrated by gatherings all over the country. This map shows just how popular this event was, and there were probably even more gatherings not officially registered.
The week is designed to allow more public participation in entomology, and to raise awareness of moths and other night-time denizens. It really is amazing what you can see at a blacklighting sheet at night – it’s like a whole new world.
So of course, our lab organized an event. About 20 people attended, ranging from seasoned scientists to enthusiastic amateur naturalists. I brought along a few students from my field entomology class, and they were able to catch a lot of great specimens for their collections. Overall the night was a lot of fun, and a big success. Next year I will try to plan an even bigger and more elaborate outing. Read more
