Beginning moth-ing

Nature Talk
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i am a birder who is interested in starting moth-watching, would like some advice:

  • what time in night do i look for moths? how do i find the moths?
  • i know there are a few kinds of light traps, white sheets and those box ones, how would i know which kind to use?
  • regarding white sheets, where do i put them if there arnt many trees on the property? i mostly see advice about branches.
  • what sort of light would i use? are lights ethical to use in general? what sort of ethics should i be following?

sorry for the abundance of questions and thanks for any help~

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Any time of the night as you can get different moths showing up at different times.
Light traps are useful when you want to just “set it and forget it”. You put the trap out, go to sleep, wake up and check to see what is in the trap. You don’t have to be up in the wee hours checking your sheets.
I have mine attached to my house, since it is wood sided. There are different options from making your own to using something like the frames used for photographic backgrounds that can be self-standing.
Mercury vapor is the best, or incandescent. I find LED light bulbs don’t work as well. You can get specific UV lights to help attract them.
Best ethical advice if using a sheet is to get up before light, and make sure all the moths are off the sheet or the birds are likely to make an easy meal out of them.

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Depending on where you live, the easiest way to get started is to look at the moths that are attracted to your outside lights, or to a light you add just for attracting moths. I started with a black light I rigged up on my shed, but I quickly figured out I am not a night person and my yard in a small town is not great moth habitat. So I moved on to a portable, battery-powered moth trap. I set it late one day and check it early the next morning. I don’t collect the moths, so I don’t use a killing agent and I can just let the moths go once I photograph them. Where I live (Massachusetts), iNat has been well-trained to recognize most of the common moths. I check the ID offered by iNat in my field guide and often that tuirns out to be right, once an identifier comes along.

White sheets: you can attach them to your house and shine the light on them, or attach them to some sort of pole arrangement you construct or buy. If the sheet isn’t attached to a wall, you may not want to set up the sheet on windy nights; I don’t think the moths will stay on a flapping sheet.

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There are a lot of mothing topics already on the forum with tips, so you could search for and read through those.

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