Much ado about Mothing

FLASH: Last night , July 31, the first of the Underwing moths with solid black hindwings appeared at the Moth Tree: the Yellow- Grey Underwing. Also three [count 'em, 3] Oldwife Underwings. Photos of these two not available yet.

Meanwhile, here's a sampling of some of the visitors to the Moth Tree at the East Drive between Pilgrim Hill and the Boathouse and to a tree just west of the 79th Street entrance, near Cedar Hill during the last weeks of July:
Ilia Underwing -- [Catocala ilia ] the most common Underwing moth at the Moth Tree--very variable in forewing pattern---and American Idia [ Idia americalis]


A partially opened Ilia, revealing the bright orange and black hindwing pattern.


Ilia Underwing -, slightly open

The Ex-Girlfriend [Catocala lineela]

We call this moth the Ex-girlfriend because it appears as The Girlfriend [Catocala amica] in the one and only field guide, Eastern Moths by Charles V. Covell. In a list of corrections in a new edition of his book, Covell recanted, and changed the ID. He renamed this one the Little-lined Underwing . But we prefer to call it the Ex-Girlfriend, since that's what indeed it is. It is one of the early underwings to come to the Moth Tree, arriving in late July along with the Ilia, the Ultronia, and the Oldwife.


Firefly -- probably Photinus pyralis



Ultronia Underwing -- Catocala ultronia


At 79th St. -- Cicada just emerged from its pupal case [above it] on a Beech.


At 79th street, an egg mass deposited by a Gypsy Moth on the same tree.

Witnesses to all the above wonders, and more: Nick Wagerik, Lee Stinchcombe, Noreen O'Rourke, Jim Lewis and me--the regular Central Park Mothers [rhymes with authors]. Many other occasional visitors too numerous to mention here.