Guest blog by Dhruv Rungta

I stepped out of Dad’s car and spritzed myself with bug spray. While I was fascinated by insects, I was definitely not a bug person. Not yet, at least. I was simply at the National Moth Week event in East Brunswick, New Jersey, USA, because I liked learning new things. The thought of thousands of winged creatures–moths and not–swarming around special UV lighting was awesome and terrifying at the same time. I was looking forward to seeing some cool things, but hopefully not have any of them land on me, so I continued to douse myself with bug spray. 

            After a few more minutes of this, I grabbed my flashlight and walked towards the meeting point and was delighted to see dozens of nature enthusiasts gathered. There were scout troops, scientists, students, general enthusiasts, and even Mayor Brad Cohen of East Brunswick and New Jersey Assemblyman Sterley Stanley engaged in lively conversations about moths.

I caught up with Liti Haramaty, the co-founder of moth night, who I had worked with for a research project on amphibians. She explained how moths can see wavelengths of light we cannot see, including UV, and for reasons not wholly known to scientists, they are attracted to it. I eagerly listened as she told me fascinating facts about moths. I asked if I could do anything to help, and she handed me a ziplock bag containing a special moth attracting concoction. It’s made with overripe bananas, rotting tomatoes and fermented wine, she said. Belch… I thought! It smelled just as bad as it sounded, the same pungent odor of finding an apple in the fridge you forgot about. My job was to hold this bag while younger scouts used paint brushes to apply it to the tree to attract the moths. 

            Soon, dozens of little children rushed to me with paint brushes in their hands to dip into my bag. In their excitement, and being little kids, they messily dipped their brushes, resulting in this sticky solution spilling all over my arms, legs and shoes. And then it hit me, quite literally. All sorts of insects were now landing on me! This fermenting liquid had overridden the gallons of bug spray I put on myself. Oh no, this can’t be happening, I thought. At first I was nervous, but then as one cool moth landed on me, I started enjoying it! I was turning into a bug person, quite literally!

            This continued for the next few hours, as we enthusiastically identified beetles, flies, moths and more over the light sheets, baited trees and me. Overall, it was a phenomenal experience for everyone involved. It was marvelous seeing people fall in love with these terrific insects and the community gathering together. I cannot say thank you enough to everyone involved for creating this movement and leading the night! 

Dhruv Rungta is a rising senior at JP Stevens High School. Edison, who aspires to be an environmental lawyer. He has previously volunteered with the Friends of the East Brunswick Environmental Commission’s Salamander Protection Program.

“If there’s one thing moths like, it’s a cheap beer.

“The sweeter and stinkier the better,” said Andy Matz, a senior insect science student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

A belt of Pabst Blue Ribbon or Colt 45 mixed into a paste of fermented fruit is borderline irresistible to just about any of the estimated 10,000 North American species of insects, he said.

On Friday night, Matz and some fellow students will hang a few high-powered lights and slather the bait on a couple of trees outside the Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center in the hopes of doing something many Nebraskans try to avoid.

They want to attract moths — lots of them.

This is the goal of Nebraska Moth Night, an offshoot of the first National Moth Week.

…

National Moth Week, which began [July 23] and had moth nights confirmed in 49 states — what gives, North Dakota? — grew out of a series of moth nights that a couple of New Jersey residents have put on in East Brunswick since 2005.

People have done large-scale butterfly counts for years, Matz said. Moths, on the other hand, haven’t attracted such love.”

Read the whole article…

In addition to donating a book, Jim has graciously supplied us with a blog post:

“I am a life-long Minnesotan with a M. S. in Zoology from the University of Minnesota. I’ve been studying moths since 1989 (but also as a boy, and again as a teen), mostly in Minnesota and Costa Rica. I do a lot of rearing and photography.

Cristóbal Ríos-Málaver is a Colombian biologist and entomologist studying butterflies and beetles of the family Lucanidae in the neotropical highlands of Venezuela. Cristo has also conducted several studies on biodiversity of butterflies in the Central Cordillera of Colombia, examining the patterns of species richness in riparian forests and changes in species of butterflies along altitude gradients near his hometown, Manizales-Caldas, Colombia.

During National Moth Week, Cristo will use traps baited with rotting fruit, which he will place inside and outside the cloud forest at 1,650 meters of elevation in the town of Altos de Pipe, Miranda, Venezuela. These traps were designed primarily to attract frugivorous butterfly species, but Cristo has found that moths are also attracted to the traps. He plans to add light traps to his set up soon.

Cristo is currently earning his master’s degree at the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC), where he is conducting studies on biodiversity of butterflies and moths in patches of cloud forest in the Cordillera de la Costa in relation to climate. Cristo enjoys his studies in Venezuela. He is amazed by the shapes and colors of moth species, and he is interested in learning more about the taxonomy, ecology and distribution of Saturniidae, Sphingidae, Geometridae and Noctuidae. In his spare time, Cristo enjoys photographing insects in the cloud forest. 

Feliz Semana Nacional de la Polilla a todos!

Attracting Moths

In the last few years I’ve been trying to learn more about the moths we have at the farm.  Since moths fly mostly at night, I’ve been using both bait and lights to attract them so I can get a look at them.  Here are explanations of the techniques I use.  Read more

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Here are some tips from fellow moth’ers from the Facbook Mothing page:

Marvin Smith – Baiting Notes: I reapplied a coat of McGuinness‘s Moth Magnet bait during the late afternoon. I’m applying the bait to oak slabs sawed while cutting firewood. The slabs are more portable than trees. I can easily experiment with different locations. I can also pick them up during the day so our dogs don’t lick off the moth bait. I usually just lay the slabs down flat on the ground, on a pile of rocks, on a stump, wherever. That way the bait doesn’t run off the slabs. Based upon very limited experimentation, location in our yard does not make any difference.
Shortly after sunset a half dozen or so moths were attracted to the bait. The temperature was around 53°. All were Armyworm Moths (Mythimna unipuncta – 10438) except for this Dart. Within 30-45 minutes, all the moths disappeared. The temperature had dropped a couple of degrees. I have no idea whether the time of day or the temperature was the critical factor in the moth’s exit.

Dave Small – I seem to have turned the corner this fall in the baiting game. I have no set formula and use whatever fruit I have on hand for a base but try to get bananas whenever possible. I take my fruit and mash it up with some wine or beer into a slurry. add a couple cups of sugar (white or brown) a shot of rum and a dolup of molasses or maple syrup. The important thing seems to be having it at a consistency that is a slurry that can be applied with a 3 inch paint brush so moderate the liquid to match the solids. I then paint a 10 inch by 16 inch patch on several (now up to 12) trees in the yard and adjacent woodland. I mix the tree species painting both hard and softwood trees with the slurry. I do this in the afternoon and begin checking immediately as the sun dissappears and 2-3 times after as temps hold above 40. I have had a lot of success into the first week of December Athol (Central) Massachusetts. I have a tall tupperware container I use to make bait and I keep it going by adding new sugar fruit etc. every few days… (I keep the lid loose) I bait about 12 trees now plus an old platform feeder.

Jackie Nelson – Buy a very cheap bottle of White Wine and add about 2-3 spoons of sugar to it. Shake it and let it sit, although I usually use it the same night. The longer it sits the better. Cut a piece of clothesline (I’ve been using anchor rope lately) to about a three foot length and dip both ends ( go up the ends a good 12 inches ) in the wine bottle . Hang the rope over a limb so both ends are dangling. On a good night, during the winter, the ropes will be covered with moths. Best time is between dusk to around 2000 hrs and when the temperature is in the low 40s. I usually hang between 4-6 ropes on various limbs or off the porch lights. I usually dip the ropes back into the wine nightly, but I’ve seen moths still come to the ropes without redipping them.

Ken Childs – I’ve been making small batches with varying ingredients, hoping I’ll stumble on one that works. White sugar, brown sugar, overripe banana, overripe grapes, beer, wine, molasses, and yeast are the ingredients I’ve been playing around with. If you’re using inexpensive brown sugar, that’s usually just white sugar mixed with molasses so using white sugar with extra molasses should work just as well. I give my bait mixtures at least 3 days to mature in my relatively warm basement and I check the trees just before it’s completely dark and then every 30 minutes or so until around 8 P.M.

Dave Moskowitz – I find the bait works best when I split a few beers and maybe some rum with the mixture. Some beer and rum for me, some for the moths. Or maybe there aren’t really any moths? Seriously though, I live in a very residential area with big oak trees and the sugaring is sometimes fantastic and other times not a moth to be found. I think the mixture, weather, moon phase and other factors seem to effect it. One other thing I’ve noticed is that most moths seem to come to my bait for very short periods of time and then leave so really frequent searches helps. One other thing I’ve noticed is that white sugar is much less attractive then dark brown sugar. At least in my yard.

Hugh McGuinness – My understanding of bait is that you want it to be thick and almost paste-like, not runny. The reason is to avoid detection by ants, which will chase moths off the bait. My bait recipe is: 1 pound dark brown sugar mixed with enough beer to dissolve the sugar. Add a few tablespoons of molasses and 1-2 chopped bananas. Either use as is or let sit in sun for a few days. Re-paint the bait lightly each night in the same place.

Additional Links:

The joy of sugaring for cold season moths – on wildnj.tv

More amazing fall moths with a sweet tooth – on wildnj.tv

Sugaring for moths on nationalmothweek.org

“Sugaring for moths” from W.J. Holland’s “The Moth Book”

I think this particular mix is banana, watermelon, orange, maybe grapes and/or apple. After awhile I dump it out and start over. If it’s too dry, it just gets hard. Too wet and it just gets mushy & moldy. (Fran Cutrell Rutkovsky)

Only one moth showed up tonight when I checked the pears. Looks like another Dart moth. (Ilona Lozer – Southern Wisconsin)

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…

My recipe for the sweet fermented mixture varies a little depending upon what I have at home but is essentially:

1 overripe banana or a can of peaches in heavy syrup (or both)

A few ounces of dark rum (tasted beforehand to insure freshness)

A bottle of dark beer (tasted beforehand to insure freshness) 

A box of dark brown sugar

A bottle of dark molasses

Mash the banana and\or peaches so that they are in little pieces

Mix the remaining ingredients together with the mashed fruit (use a container with a large open mouth for ease of getting the paintbrush in and out)

Put a tight lid on and leave in the sun for a few hours to a day 

Paint a 1 foot square area on tree trunks about 3 or 4 feet off the ground, the more trees the better

Check the painted spot every half hour or so, approaching very slowly (many moths will be skittish) and using indirect light from a flashlight. (one note of caution – the mixture will be attractive to bees and wasps the next day)

If you are taking pictures, shoot quickly and from as far away as possible and as many photos as you can, especially at the sugar bait (moths on the sheet are typically not as quick to fly). The flash and movements toward the tree are often enough to scare away any nectaring moths. However, they often come back quickly, so check frequently throughout the night.

Dave Moskowitz

East Brunswick, NJ