Before attending Bioblitz, I was skeptical. I did not think I would enjoy this four hour block of time I had to take away from my other responsibilities especially since it was the nighttime session, but I was wrong! I ended up meeting ore new Macaulay peers and learned a lot about moths. Although I did not get to choose which species to study, moths provided an interesting experience. Our group leader was able to identify the species of moth with the slightest glance. He knew everything one could know about moths and was able to guide us through the process of setting up bait and capturing new specimen.

The first method of study we learned about was how to set up bait. Our group leader prepared a jar of bananas, beer, brown sugar, and a splash of wine. This jar of sweetness attracts many insects especially moths, but detracts humans because of the wretched smell. We would go up to a random tree along out path and smear a bunch of this goop on it so that when we come to the tree later in the night we would hopefully discover some incredible moths. Our first destination was the reservoir. We set up a white cloth and shone a bright light and UV light on it in order to see the insects that were attracted to the bait. Many insects were attracted to the cloth and I even witnessed two lady bugs mate. After this stop we continued to smear additional trees with the sweet goo and set up a second cloth site at a picnic table. By setting up in a heavily wooded area rather than a wetland we were able to see other species of insects and moths.

Unfortunately this is all we did in the moth group, I would have enjoyed seeing very large moths, but the largest we captured had a 1.25″ long body and a 2″ wingspan. When we went to the trees we smeared the banana mixture on we only noticed a few small moths and a lot of ants. It was an overall interesting experience to be in the gardens after hours, and exploring areas I have never been to before. I would have preferred to have been at the gardens during the day time to study butterflies (the counterpart to moths). However, it was a great overall experience.