Way cool!!! There was a report last year of a BWM out in the gulf 25 miles off shore perched on an oil rig.

Nice to see someone so excited about that big moth :o)

They are common here and we tend to take them for granted. It's always nice though to set out butterfly brew or fruit and find one or more coming to feed.

~ Cat

Here is a link that might be useful: Female Black Witch on my community webshots

I hope it's an omen of good luck, like the man in the article said, but in 2005 we had an outbreak of them here right before Hurricane Katrina. I'm not superstitious, but........
Sherry

Cool! I am in the Dayton area. Maybe we will get one...

The article says it feeds on oranges. Do the adults feed?

Elisabeth

I was the guy who collected the black witch moth in question. As an entomologist in Ohio, I feel I was pretty lucky to come by a rare gem like the black witch. I encourage you all to keep an eye out for them because there were likely more than one that made their way this far north, in fact I have received a few emails from people claming to have seen them here in ohio.

Josh

Congratulations, Josh. How exciting!!! I found one in my yard in '04, as I recall, I had a wonderful butterfly season that year.

You may probably already know, but Mike Quinn, Biologist of the Texas Parks and Recreation keeps records of Black Witch sightings. Here's some information, and his e-mail.

Thanks for sharing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mike Quinn -Black witch info and e-mail

Yes, the adults will feed on butterfly brew and fruit (fresh or rotting). We bait trees and old stumps regularly at some of our butterfly parks. One of our TPWD parks has moth blacklighting tours each week. That's when you hang a white sheet between some trees and set up a black light behind it. Moths will come to the light :o)

~ Cat

Great find, Josh. I've never seen one but hope to someday. You'll have a great story to tell about that specimen.

BTW, welcome to the BF forum.

Sandy

Back in the 80's my dad found a dead one here in central Jersey at his work. We had it nailed to a board for years until it fell apart.

Cool that Josh showed up here.

I would like to point out that the article was NOT buried in the paper. It was on the front page of the local/2nd section.

Josh, I was thinking about you and your moth on Sunday. I went past that McDonalds twice, on my way to and from Lake Choctaw. Made sure to point it out to my kids. I've known about the McDonalds since The Dispatch did the big story about moths out there but I have yet to make it out there at night.

KC

I just noticed that we can go back only 33 pages now versus 67 pages. I happened to have this old page loaded and I wanted to see where it would pop up if I posted to it.

Thanks for the top-post, I have never heard of it, but now I'll keep an eye out for that here in S.Florida!! Christy

I finally got around to going to the McDonalds where this moth was caught. Went there 3 times last month and once this month. My son caught a female luna which was kind enough to give us some eggs. We have also caught "big poplar sphinx," hog sphinxes, imperials, polyphemus and some stuff I have yet to identify. When you walk around there, you have to look up and down because a lot of moths just decide to sit in the parking lot. The ones on the ground make great photo subjects because they have no interest in going anywhere.

My son and I love going there. My daughter wants to go but it will be a couple years because she is an emotional wreck when she is sleep deprived.

KC

Thought I'd post up some pics of what I've caught at West Jeff this year. This is an imperial.

Regal moth

Looks like a male, KC, like the one that visited me the other night.

Since the outbreak of black witches we had before Katrina, I could do without them, myself. I don't know if storms in the Gulf blow them in or what. Speaking of storms in the Gulf, I need to check out Ernesto, I think he's called.

Sherry

IO moth. It is sitting on the carpet of my stationwagon's tailgate (just in case anyone wondered what the red fuzzy stuff was).

Bisected honey locust and IO moths

Waved sphinx

Sherry,
That was the male I caught on 7/20. This is the female I caught on 7/15. Raising her offspring now.

Wow, I keep seeing stories about the Black Witch pop up, I had to ID one for a friend in Texas last week.. now I am seeing postings everywhere.. how funny!

I just wrote about strays heading north in another thread and it reminded me about something I had not posted here.

A guy in Ohio found a black witch shortly after it eclosed. If he takes the first picture 5 minutes later, when the wings are expanded, it is not a huge story. But he got a picture that clearly shows the BW was fresh out of the pupa.

If I found a BW cat in a tree in Ohio, I would go nuts. Finding the moth would be pretty exciting too.

Story link is below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Black Witch spawned in Ohio!

Wow - those pictures are amazing! I'd flip if I found a black witch emerging down here, too! I've seen them on more than one occasion, but I've never seen a caterpillar or cocoon. Several of their host plants grow here on the property, so I'll keep my eyes peeled for them.

They're really impressive moths, for sure!

Sherry

Okay, that is it. I have to go moth hunting next summer. Too many beautiful moths. Maybe plant a mimosa tree too. My dad had a beautiful one when I was growing up. Always made me think of Dr. Zeuss.

Elisabeth

Wow so glad I clicked in here! What awesome pics. I had no idea there were so many pretty moths. Kcclark, I moved down here from Worthington area a while back, know exactly where you're talking about.

And how cool that they want to go to Mickey D's. You can say, "Let's go get some burgers and moths."

purpleinopp,
Below, I've linked a Columbus Dispatch story about moths and the West Jeff McDonalds.

KC

Here is a link that might be useful: Bright lights, big moths

Interesting read. Thanks!

This is nice post very knowledgeable.

Do we have any The Bachelor fans here? Loved watching a black witch wreak havoc at the end of tonight's show.