Three years in...
This will be my third season of mothing. I'm finally beginning to feel as though I have some SMALL measure of competency, although that's likely to fade rapidly as the season progresses.
When I started this process in 2019, I had some eleven moth species to my credit over at BAMONA. Finding iNat made it a lot easier to catalog everything, and gave me a huge opportunity to interact with men and women working in the field professionally as well as serious citizen scientists. I've tried to take advantage of every opportunity, and consider it a privilege.
To date, I have 647 Oklahoma species, almost all of them within the confines of my sixty-acre farm--most of them within the five acres immediately surrounds our house. It is truly humbling, as well a particularly awesome to realize the enormous amount of diversity that can be found in a relatively small area. We are uniquely located within a stone's throw of Hugo Lake, and the protected land that surrounds it. On all sides we're surrounded by mostly undeveloped pasture land and woods, the homes of our neighbors are not overly landscaped nor treated for insect pests. These are ideal conditions for observation/specimen gathering. However, sometimes you find yourself in unfamiliar territory with time on your hands--pack the lights and see what turns up, right?
A couple weeks ago, my family and I went to Hot Springs, Arkansas for a week in our timeshare on Lake Hamilton. I was excited for the opportunity to view moths that might be found in the higher elevations of the Oachita Mountain Range. I set up my LepiLED on the balcony the first night rather than put out the sheets. It was Mother's Day weekend and lots of folks were milling about. Still, since our unit is on the end of the condo next to a wooded area, I had hope...
To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. Seven moths and handful of caddis flies were all I had to show for the night. My mind immediately ticked off all the reasons why, from the elevation of the balcony, the weakness of the LepiLED in comparison to my larger UV/MV lights at home, to the liberal use of sprays to keep down mosquitoes and other bugs that annoy tourists; I was convinced the wrath of the insect gods had been incurred and the critters were conspiring against me.
On Sunday night, in spite of the appearances, I set up my sheets in the rain gutter area in front of our condo, right next to the woods. Lackluster turnout...but there is this one little moth that caught my eye. I get four or five shots and then it disappears into the night. Going inside, I downloaded the photos and started searching. It looks like Olethreutes osmundana. Definitely out of range according to everything I can find. However, I've been told a dozen times, identification trumps range when it comes to moths; we simply don't have enough data in many, many cases. Jason Dombroskie agreed with my tentative id, and now I possibly have the first sighting of O. osmundana west of the Mississippi River. That tiny accomplishment was total compensation for the lack of numbers and the rain that came each night save the last.
Moths don't care if you're a professional or an amateur observer. They don't respect degrees. They simply show up. And if you're there with your trap, net, lights or camera, you have the chance to make a tiny piece of lepidopteran history. What a way to start year three!
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