Post by rayrard on Jul 22, 2012 22:35:56 GMT -8
I really have no idea what to make of these moths.
I went out in the late afternoon 10 days ago to a nice bottomwood swamp forest with lots ofs oak and hickory. It had just rained and it was very wet, and I was finding no Catocala on trees but more than a dozen of them on an abandoned house. I got three large species (3 lacrymosa, 2 carissima, 4 piatrix) and a C. amica just hitting the house with my net. There were more that flew away.
Now on Tuesday I went upstate to the Piedmont (2 hours away) with my net, blacklight, and bait. My bait was brown sugar/banana/beer and had sat in the SC heat for a day previous. I went up and found the best deciduous habitat I could find and had the worst sheet I ever had! Nothing good at the bait but small Idia and nothing good at the sheet. Not a single Catocala. On the way home, none even at the few good gas stations on Rt. 26. New moon and humid as heck. What gives?
Now last night I went out to the SAME exact spot where I got the Catocala on the 12th. I set up my blacklight right next to the abandoned shack where I got all of them last time. I brought the jug of bait and finished the thing off on a dozen trees around the area. Guess what? NOTHING at all the entire night. I got more cool beetles at the bait than moths. Not a single Catocala of any species.
I am extremely frustrated given conditions were IDEAL both nights with no moon, high humidity, great old growth forest, and not too dry around here. With the few times I can afford to get out and do these trips, I wanted to hit some underwings on these trips and they were complete disasters.
Are there conditions that are ideal for Catocala that allowed me to get all those moths that one day? Where the heck do you guys go to get 7-8 species on trees? I haven't found a single one on a tree yet (all of them were on a house).
What can I do to improve my luck?
I went out in the late afternoon 10 days ago to a nice bottomwood swamp forest with lots ofs oak and hickory. It had just rained and it was very wet, and I was finding no Catocala on trees but more than a dozen of them on an abandoned house. I got three large species (3 lacrymosa, 2 carissima, 4 piatrix) and a C. amica just hitting the house with my net. There were more that flew away.
Now on Tuesday I went upstate to the Piedmont (2 hours away) with my net, blacklight, and bait. My bait was brown sugar/banana/beer and had sat in the SC heat for a day previous. I went up and found the best deciduous habitat I could find and had the worst sheet I ever had! Nothing good at the bait but small Idia and nothing good at the sheet. Not a single Catocala. On the way home, none even at the few good gas stations on Rt. 26. New moon and humid as heck. What gives?
Now last night I went out to the SAME exact spot where I got the Catocala on the 12th. I set up my blacklight right next to the abandoned shack where I got all of them last time. I brought the jug of bait and finished the thing off on a dozen trees around the area. Guess what? NOTHING at all the entire night. I got more cool beetles at the bait than moths. Not a single Catocala of any species.
I am extremely frustrated given conditions were IDEAL both nights with no moon, high humidity, great old growth forest, and not too dry around here. With the few times I can afford to get out and do these trips, I wanted to hit some underwings on these trips and they were complete disasters.
Are there conditions that are ideal for Catocala that allowed me to get all those moths that one day? Where the heck do you guys go to get 7-8 species on trees? I haven't found a single one on a tree yet (all of them were on a house).
What can I do to improve my luck?
