Last night, I went for a walk with a great naturalist and friend, Moe Bottos. Moe has been a passionate teacher and naturalist for many years. He has traveled the world to discover all forms of wildlife and developed a fondness for insects and in particular - Moths in the Catocala genus.
It was a cool evening and at about 9pm I met Moe and his wife (and dog!) for a moth walk. Its always a treat because Moe knows his moths! His name is even printed in the Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America as some of his photos are used in the guide.
We were looking to mainly focus on Catocala moth species, and more specifically - we were hoping to see the Sad Underwing. I'm 'sad' to say that we didn't see it on this particular evening.
But, there were two new catocala moth species that I did get to see. One was the Clouded Underwing, and the other being the Inconsolable Underwing (Catocala insolabilis). I did not get a photo of the Inconsolable Underwing... and I was pretty upset about that for the whole night. I guess you could say that I was inconsolable! lol
We ended up seeing 30+ catocala specimens with about 6 different varieties.
My Catocala life list features the following species:
Sweetheart Underwing
Darling Underwing
Widow Underwing
Sad Underwing (new for Canada [link])
Residua Underwing
Obscure Underwing
Yellow-gray Underwing
Yellow banded Underwing
The Penitent Underwing
Old wife Underwing
Ilia Underwing
Ultronia Underwing* (seen earlier in the summer in past mothing trips)
Locust Underwing ** (not really a catocala genus moth)
Clouded Underwing (NEW!)
Inconsolable Underwing (NEW!)
Anyway, Maurice is hosting a moth event at Point Pelee this Saturday night at 9pm. Moth sheets will be up, and underwing moth walks will most definately be taking place.
Here is a link if you are interested in going!
https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/on/pelee/activ/calendrier-calendar/e564d6d3-458b-4a2e-91c1-0520b3c60d68
Good Mothing!
Dwayne
PS: Here are some former moth postings if interested:
http://dwaynejava.blogspot.com/2018/09/catocala-moths-of-late-august.html
http://dwaynejava.blogspot.com/2016/07/mid-july-moth-watching-at-ojibway-park.html
Also, Paul Pratt wrote a great writeup on Catocala species at this link on the ojbiway park website:
http://www.ojibway.ca/catocala.htm
