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You are here: Home / Backyard Wildlife / Insects / The Stunning Beauty of a Moth – Moths from My Backyard

The Stunning Beauty of a Moth – Moths from My Backyard

There are some absolutely stunning moths out there. I’ve had a few show up in my house and garden over the years. The sphinx moth, luna moth, and giant leopard spot moth were some of my favorites.

National Moth Week is in July each year during the last full week of the month. Take a look outdoors at night around your outdoor lights and see what moths you can spot!

Mothing

Have you ever heard of mothing? Really, it’s a thing. If you are familiar with birding, mothing is quite similar, though apparently a lot easier. With birding, you have to go out and seek the birds, but with mothing, well, you hang up a white sheet at night, point a light at the sheet, and wait for the moths to come to you. You can see these nocturnal pollinators and all their shapes and colors.

Xanthotype genus moth
Xanthotype genus moth
Virgin tiger moth (Grammia virgo)
Virgin tiger moth (Grammia virgo)
Luna moth (Actias luna)
Luna moth (Actias luna)
Giant leopard moth (Hypercompe scribonia)
Giant leopard moth (Hypercompe scribonia)
White-lined Sphynx Moth (Hyles lineata)
White-lined Sphynx Moth (Hyles lineata)
Polyphemous moth
Two luna moths mating

Hummingbird Moths

These pollinators move just like a hummingbird and look like a bee! You might find a hummingbird moth flying from flower to flower in your garden. They sip on nectar from phlox, lilac, blazing star, verbena, zinnias, and more.

The clearwing moth’s long tongue unfurls and is used to gather nectar from flowers, typically tubular flowers. Not many pollinators can reach deep into these flowers, making the hummingbird moth an important pollinator for plants with these types of flowers.

Hummingbird clearwing moth
Hummingbird clearwing

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Filed Under: Insects Tagged With: backyard habitat, moths, wildlife

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