The annual Moth Night was held on an unusually warm and humid night on July 14. The event was
preceded by a Sausage Sizzle. Approximately 65 people attended, most of whom were
members of the Friends of the Botanic Gardens.

Light sheets were set in the rainforest near the entrance to the Red Arrow Trail. Another
was in a gully just below dominated by several huge Paperbarks, Melaleucua leucadendra.
A small generator provided the power source.

Just at dark the power was turned on and the moths and other insects started to arrive
shortly thereafter.

It is officially “winter” in Australia in July, but in the tropics as we are in
Cairns, it is a mild winter at best. This year it was even more mild than usual. This seemed to
help with the number of insects that came to the lights. However, in “summer” (December
and January) we would expect an even greater number of species.

There were few complaints about the paucity of insects and everyone seemed to find something of interest.

Phone cameras were in prominent use. In addition to the moths, visitors discovered other member of the rainforest community out and about after dark.

For Dave Rentz, however, there’s a convenient work-around: He lives in northeastern Australia, where observing moths – along with his other favorite insects – can be a year-round activity.

“We are in the heart of the tropics, north of the Tropic of Capricorn, and have a wonderful tropical botanic garden in Cairns where we hold our moth nights,” Dave said. “In other parts of the country, they hold similar moth nights, but our seasons are opposite from yours. Our summer is from November to March.”

A retired entomologist, he has led moth nights at the Cairns Botanic Gardens for the past several years, attracting 40 to 60 local residents to see what’s flying. According to Dave, they are likely to get a good showing.

“The moth population is very, very diverse. A colleague estimated that there are 4,000 species here in Kuranda,” he said. Kuranda, outside of Cairns, where Rentz lives, is in the heart of a rain forest.

As the country coordinator for Australia, Dave will be helping to raise the visibility of NMW and increase appreciation for moths around the country, even if moth nights must be scheduled during more temperate times of the year.

Dave’s love of insects began in his native San Francisco, where he hunted crickets and grasshoppers as a boy in the sand dunes that lined the yet-undeveloped streets near the bay. The student programs he attended at the California Academy of Sciences set him on the path toward a career in entomology. He earned his bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. at UC Berkeley.

During his career, Dave specialized in Orthoptera, the order that includes grasshoppers, locusts and crickets, and Blattodea, which includes cockroaches and termites.

In 1977, he and his family moved to Canberra, in southeastern Australia, where he worked for CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, for many years before retiring to Kuranda.

Not surprisingly for someone who loves insects, Dave has added moths to his insects of interest, along with the people who watch them. “I enjoy meeting the people and discovering their interests in insect photography and insect biology.”

Read about moth night at the Cairns Botanic Garden.

Check out Dave’s blog.

The first Cairns Moth Night was held on the evening of the 27^th July at the Cairns Botanic Gardens with around 76 members of the Friends and the public in attendance.

Moth Week was conceived in the US some years ago as a time to initiate public awareness in the diversity of moths. Since the summer season is the time of greatest insect activity, the week of the 27^th of July was selected as possibly the best time because the moon would not interfere. Being it is the Australian winter, one would not expect many moths to show up at light sheets in the southern part of the continent but in Cairns where we have mild winters, and an especially mild winter this year, we can expect some insect traffic at light sheets at any time of the year.

Moth Week has blossomed into an international event with some 42 countries taking part as well as a plethora of American cities all participating during the week.

Our Moth Night was a bit disappointing for reasons only the moths can know! However, there was a variety of other insects that intrigued our visotrs.

We set two sheets at the beginning of the Red Arrow track and in the gully below. We saw a variety of spiders, mantids, wasps, flies, crickets and even a Striped Possum and a Honey Glider.  As a result we will have our November Night Walk along the Red Arrow Track. We will set up a light sheet or two to compare the numbers of moths and other insects with what we saw in winter. Should be interesting so come along and bring a light and camera.

Dave Rentz is a Member of the Order of Australia, 2013 (AM) ; Honorary Fellow, California Academy of Sciences ; Adjunct Professorial Research Fellow, School of Marine & Tropical Biology, James Cook University and Ig-Nobel Award winner: Biology 2011