Nature Done Wright

Incorporating the Celery Farm and Screech Owl Companion blogs

May 19, 2013

Save the Date: Fell House Moth Ball 7/31

Fyke Nature Associations and the fine folks at the Fell House will be among the hundreds of individuals and scores of
organizations around the world participating in the second annual National Moth Week.

On Wednesday, July 31, at 8 p.m., we're hosting a free Moth Ball at the Fell House, featuring several moth-attracting lights (both mercury vapor and back lights) — and some nifty moths dancing under the bright lights — plus a little talk and slide show about why moths are amazing and why their bad rep is mostly unfair. The photo above is from last year's illuminating event.

We might even have "Mothra" playing in the background.

More info about National Moth Week follows.

In observance of National Moth Week, fellow citizen scientists will be setting up white
sheets and lights on dark porches, city streets, backyards, fields and woods throughout the
country and around the globe in order to observe and document one of nature’s most diverse –
and misunderstood – creatures.

National Moth Week literally shines a much-needed spotlight on moths and their
ecological significance. There are hundreds of thousands of moth species, many of them as
beautiful as their colorful cousins – butterflies – and just as important to the ecosystem. Moths
also can tell us a lot about our changing environment by their geographical and seasonal
distribution.

The week-long event allows people of all ages and abilities to become “citizen scientists”
and contribute scientific data about the moths they observe in their own communities.

In its first year in 2012, National Moth Week attracted participants in 49 states and 29
countries outside the U.S., who registered 307 event locations. Moth events took place in
diverse settings, from the streets of Manhattan to remote sites in Costa Rica, Kenya and
Gambia.

Numerous organizations around the world have partnered with National Moth Week and
are supporting the event. Through partnerships with major online biological data depositories,

National Moth Week participants can help map moth distribution and provide needed
information on other life history aspects around the globe.

Partners include Project Noah, Encyclopedia of Life, Discover Life, and the USDA
Agricultural Research Service. Many partner websites are repositories for data and photos
about moths and other organisms.

For more information about National Moth Week, click here.