Photos / Sounds

Observer

joemdo

Date

May 21, 2022 02:10 AM EDT

Description

This was the best match I could find of the moths posted in Florida in Arctiini. Not sure if there is any variability or if my photo is hiding some details here. It appeared soon after I lit the first sheet and wouldn't settle down. I wish I would've gotten a shot with my DSLR but I was in a hurry to set up the other sheet so just snapped this photo with my phone and moved on. I wasn't able to find it when I came back.

I had been itching to go blacklighting and had vegetation monitoring work in the HID on Saturday morning so decided to nap on Friday and leave in the middle of the night to blacklight before my vegetation monitoring work. I didn't get my sheets set up till after 2AM (by then the half moon had come out). I set both sheets up along the Gate 2 Trail in Long Pine Key. I had wanted to set up a sheet in HID restoration area 2020 but it was way too windy (probably over 8 knots with stronger gusts). The mosquitoes were somewhat light but picked up quite a bit after 5AM, when the winds eased up a little. I was honestly expecting more action at the sheets but maybe didn't set them up in the best spot and I'm sure the wind and moonlight didn't help. Overall not bad but I am looking forward to trying more spots in better conditions! This observation is from the first sheet described below.

First sheet lit by Bioquip blacklight and later a cheapy DJ blacklight:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=25.3909948679442&nelng=-80.63851525347474&on=2022-05-21&order=asc&order_by=observed_on&place_id=any&project_id=blacklighting-florida&swlat=25.390328509519005&swlng=-80.63991804878953&user_id=joemdo

Second sheet lit by three DJ blacklights:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=25.391675796248485&nelng=-80.63730240183622&on=2022-05-21&order=asc&order_by=observed_on&place_id=any&project_id=blacklighting-florida&swlat=25.391009441582124&swlng=-80.63870519715101&user_id=joemdo

All of my blacklighting observations from this night:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2022-05-21&order=asc&order_by=observed_on&place_id=any&project_id=blacklighting-florida&user_id=joemdo

Here's a video showing the DJ blacklights in action at the Pinecrest campground (Big Cypress) from Summer 2019: https://youtu.be/tavmTa7WoPk

Info about the cheapy DJ blacklights used on both sheets, great for getting started with blacklighting: https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/damontighe/11836-diy-moth-light

Blacklighting project for Florida on iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/blacklighting-florida