Mid-summer Moth Madness – NMW 2013 in California, USA

Go Ahead, Bug Me creator, Becky Randall, sent this article about their Moth Week 2013 event in California, USA:

Last year for National Moth Week, the Insect Sciences Museum of California and Facebook page Go ahead, BUG me co-hosted a mothing event which they called Mid-summer Moth Madness.

Here is the poster they made to attract people to the event. They then made an Event page on Facebook and invited any friends they had in their area.

Go Ahead Bug Me Moth madness article 01On a beautiful mid-summer day, 16 people gathered at a private ranch in Clayton, California. Becky Randall, creator of page Go ahead, BUG me and Eddie Dunbar, founder of the Insect Sciences Museum had driven from San Jose and Oakland to co-host the event.  Also invited was Edgar Ortega and his group from The California Bug Club.

The group met early evening and had a wonderful dinner prepared by GABM founder Becky Randall. Everyone ate and chatted about their favorite topic… insects!

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As the sun went down everyone started to prepare for our evening. Down the hill there was a nice area where we could set up our lights and sheets with a table on each side for our insect paraphernalia.  Eddie Dunbar brought field guide books to try and identify some of the moths we found. Some people were collectors and brought little jars they could keep the moths in for further inspection.  Becky Randall brought her neice Jordan with her. Neither one of them had ever done anything like this before and they had the absolute best time!

Go Ahead Bug Me Moth madness article 03

Everyone had a camera. It was funny because everytime somoene said “Look what I found”, the whole group would get up and rush over to take photograhs. The Moth’s were definately the Stars of the show for this event.  That’s when Becky Randall came up with the term ” Moth Paparazzi.”

Go Ahead Bug Me Moth madness article 04

The group had lots of various moths fly in along with other insects. Most small moths but interesting none the less. The true ultra star of the night was a beautiful, large Polyphemus Moth that flew into camp around 1 am.  Robert Shields who is an insect enthusiast found it and made sure that everyone got a photo with it.

Go Ahead Bug Me Moth madness article 05As exciting all this was for the adults, there were kids there too and they had a blast. Having Eddie Dunbar from the Insect Sciences Museum there to teach them about mothing and how to be respectful to the moths and nature was awesome. He even brought small collection kits for the children. A great time was had by all for almost the entire night!  No one wanted to go to sleep!

Go Ahead Bug Me Moth madness article 06Many went home but some spent the night on the deck of the ranch as it was too late to drive. The next morning everyone got up and again visited and ate leftovers. The moth event was a total success and was so much fun!  All the information gathered would then be sent to the Sciences Museum of California to be logged into a huge database.  This group is again going for the Mid-summer Moth madness 2 this year!  Same place only we do think there will be more people because word spread and lots more people want to go!

Go Ahead Bug Me Moth madness article 07Becky and neice Jordan hitting their sleeping bags.

 

 

 

Article: Rebecca Langston aka: Becky Randall 3/6/2014

Go ahead, BUG me ~ http://www.facebook.com/goaheadbugme,

Insect Sciences Museum of California ~ www.bugpeople.org/‎, https://www.facebook.com/InsectMuseum?ref=stream HYPERLINK “https://www.facebook.com/InsectMuseum?ref=stream&hc_location=stream”& HYPERLINK “https://www.facebook.com/InsectMuseum?ref=stream&hc_location=stream”hc_location=stream

California Bug Club ~ https://www.facebook.com/californiabugclub

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