Dave Moskowitz, co-founder of National Moth Week, writes the ‘New Jersey  Moths’   blog for  Wild NJ,  a website dedicated to wildlife in NJ, and a partner of National Moth Week.  Dave writes about different moths that he finds, his adventures while mothing, his favorite mothing and nature books and more.  http://wildnewjersey.tv/categories/263/new-jersey-moths.aspx

Todd Dreyer, National Moth Week team member, is working on cataloging the moths of Middlesex County, NJ.  The blog  is ‘Mercury Vapor, Moths & Me’  where you can see Todd’s  stunning photographs. http://mothsofmiddlesexcountynj.blogspot.com/2012/03/polygrammate-hebraeicum-hebrew.html

Seabrooke Leckie is a biologist and naturalist, writer and photographer, but most of all a lover of nature. She is the co-author, with David Beadle, of the new Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Northeastern North America and a sponsor of National Moth Week.  In her blog,  ‘The marvelous in nature’ Seabrooke’s writes about moths and other natural marvelous.      http://seabrookeleckie.com/blog/

John Beetham writes in his blog  ‘A DC birding blog’  about birds, insects and everything nature, including moths.  John is a supporter of National Moth Week.  http://dendroica.blogspot.com/.

Bug_Girl (we are pretty sure it’s her real name) has a PhD in Entomology; she is a dot.com designer, web mistress, and forensic consultant. In her blog she writes about everything bugs, which includes moths, of course.  She is a supporter of National Moth Week.  http://membracid.wordpress.com/

Chris Grinter is an entomologist at the California Academy Sciences.  His blog Skeptical Moth, offers a glimpse into this amazing insect diversity while exploring various aspects of critical thinking and science education. Chris is also a supporter of National Moth Week.  http://skepticalmoth.southernfriedscience.com/

Eric R. Eaton, A.K.A. Bug Eric, is a professional, self-employed writer and entomologist, principal author of the Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America.  He is a supporter of National Moth Week. http://bugeric.blogspot.com/search?q=moth

These are the mothing blogs that I know of. If you write, or know of other moths and mothing  blogs, please write to me with the web address.    Thanks. Liti

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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”