Moth night in Paradise

Last night, before the rain came we did a moth night for the Friends of Whitefish Point at Sawmill Creek Park. We had about 25 people show up, some with kids and it was a lot of fun.

Typically I take a bunch of pictures while we are telling people what to expect, but last night I forgot until it was totally dark.

As to be expected the dominant insects being so close to a creek were caddisflies.

Long-horned caddisflies were the most common insect of the night.

Northeastern pine sawyer, the first really interesting insect of the night. This was followed by several more beetles.

A chafer beetle on the left and a Forked fungus beetle on the right. This little beetle is to my eye very much like a horned dinosaur.

Lesser maple spanworm moth on the left. Chestnut-colored pondweed moth on the right.

Praeclara underwing, perhaps the moth find of the evening.

The night was cut short when thunderstorms hit, but it didn’t affect the fun that we all had.

More later…