Outside News Source
July 18-26 is National Moth Week, a time when citizen scientists are encouraged to leave their porch lights on to attract and document local moths.
While they’ve been maligned as butterflies’ less attractive and sometimes more destructive cousins, moths have always had loyal fans for their diversity, beauty and value as pollinators and food sources for birds and other animals. The beautiful Luna, mystifying Death’s-head and exotic tropical moths have long attracted the attention of artists and writers as well as entomologists.
In addition to using lights, moth-ers also can attract moths by coating tree trunks with a sticky, sweet mixture of fruit and stale beer. Searching for caterpillars and day-flying moths is a good activity for daytime. The National Moth Week website offers tips on attracting moths.
Free registration of private and public moth-watching events is encouraged at http://nationalmothweek.org/ in order to show where moths are being observed around the world.