Luna, Io, Sphinxes and more!

It was a warm night last night so I set up my black light and sheet for the first time in a week. I got lots of new stuff at the light and my yard moth list continues to grow. I think about half the species I identified were new for my continually growing yard list.

That's one seriously covered sheet...

I thought I had likely missed them for the year but two Luna Moths were my first for the yard. Like most of the giant silkmoths (Saturniidae) these are big and showy so people get excited about them (myself included) but they're actually quite common:

Luna Moth (Actias luna)

Also in the big showy category was a nice male Io Moth:

male Io Moth (Automeris io)

And sphinxes as usual put in a showing:

Twin-spotted Sphinx (Smerinthus jamaicensis)

Give the abdomen a good tap and they'll show you their scary eyes!

A less showy sphinx, the Laurel Sphinx (Sphinx kalmiae)

But there were also some pretty cool less showy species out:

Sharp-lined Yellow (Sicya macularia)

Streaked Ethmia (Ethmia longimaculella)

Putnam's Looper (Plusia putnami)

Grape Leaffolder (Desmia funeralis)

And this little guy had to be my favourite. Looks like someone drew an angry/sad face on it!

Angry-face Moth AKA Elegant Grass-veneer (Microcrambus elegans)

A closer look at that sad, sad face :(

And if the moths weren't good enough entertainment, I had a Virginia Rail calling all night and my first Eastern Screech-owl for the yard as well!