June was a Fabulous Month for Mothing!

Rick Travis, Class of 2018

The Moth Squad participated in two great Mothing Events in June. Here’s a recap of our adventures with the denizens of the night at these events:

Richardson Breckinridge Park Event:

We supported Richardson’s first ever Mothing Event, held on June 13 at Breckinridge Park. The event was initially planned for June 6, but Mother Nature had other plans for us, as a downpour forced its cancellation. Fortunately, the Moth Squad, Youth Engagement Team, and Richardson Parks were able to regroup and reschedule the event for the following Saturday evening, as the event proved to be a big hit, with over 120 attendees!

The youth Engagement Team kicked things off with several activity tables for the kiddos to enjoy prior to sundown.

Once the sun set, the denizens of the night emerged, and the Squad and other Master Naturalists helped the attendees understand what they were observing and their role within our ecosystem. The folks were very enthusiastic and engaged. Richardson Parks was quite pleased with the turnout and the quality of the event and have already requested we plan to have a “2nd Annual” event at Breckinridge Park next summer.

What did we see at the Richardson event? In iNaturalist, for the event date there were 982 observations, and 311 species catalogued at Breckinridge Park!

Plano Oak Point Park Event

Our 2nd mothing event in June was at Oak Point Park in Plano on the 20th. Plano Parks has teamed with the Moth Squad for this event for several years now, and it has consistently experienced great attendance and good mothing. This year proved no exception, with about 115 attendees flowing through the event.

Sam Kieschnick once again attended this event and enthralled the attendees with his enthusiastic sharing of knowledge, and encouragement to learn more about insects and their vital importance to our ecosystems.

Sam in action:

The Youth Engagement Team was also in action at the Plano event with pre-sunset activities for the kiddos.

When darkness fell, the critters came to visit our screens, with a couple of notable visitors!

A Luna Moth made an uncommon North Texas appearance late in the evening. Luna Moths are plentiful in East Texas, where their primary host tree, the Sweetgum, ranges. However, they will use Black Walnut as a host tree in our area, so on rare occasions a Luna moth is spotted deep in our woodlands.

The Luna Moth being photographed:

Another large moth made an appearance, and we had difficulty identifying the species, including Sam K. Sam made further inquiries with some of his expert associates, and we found out why: because this was the first ever iNaturalist recorded observation of this moth in Texas!!! The species we saw was a Nutmeg Underwing moth. A quite uncommon moth in North America, which uses the Nutmeg Walnut tree as its host plant for the species reproductive cycle. The nutmeg Walnut does not range into Texas, but there have been some lab studies that indicate this species may be able to use Black Walnut (which does range here) as a host.

The Nutmeg Underwing Moth:

What did we see at the Plano event? In iNaturalist, for the event date there were 1569 observations, and 403 species catalogued at Oak Point Park!