Happy Moth Week! Here’s How You Can Participate

Did you know there is such as thing as National Moth Week and that it’s the last full week in July, this year from the 23rd through the 31st? This celebration of moths began in 2012, with registered mothing events held in 49 states and 31 countries around the world. Since then it has only grown larger, now with 37 countries participating including Bhutan, Laos, Bangaldesh, Canada, Germany, Thailand and many more. Want to participate in National Moth Week this year? Here is a map featuring some moth-inspired events –maybe there’s one where you live. 

Do you know anything at all about moths? Is what you know based in truth or myth?

First off I want you to know that moths can be incredibly beautiful, with all kinds of colors and sizes and interesting lifecycles.

There are WAY more moths than butterflies in the world–for every ten moths there is roughly only one butterfly.

In the United States there are about 11,000 species of moths and only 700 species of butterflies. 

The reason most people don’t know much about moths is because most moths are nocturnal, active when it is dark out and you are at home in your house. How many people walk around in the dark, looking for moths? Probably not many, but you might be surprised to learn that “Moth-ing” as it’s called, is popular among self-professed nature nerds like me. Last weekend I was in Ohio for a three day event called Mothapalooza. Guess what the focus was? If you said moths, you are correct! This event was hosted by the Arc of Appalachia and brought in moth and nature lovers from around the country. Each night there were multiple mothing stations where participants could go look at nocturnal insects, including moths. What’s a mothing station you ask? A mothing station is just a white sheet lit by some kind of light–and these varied from station to station and included black lights, mercury vapor lights, or just a plain-old regular lightbulb. 

According to the Global Citizen Science Website, “National Moth Week celebrates the beauty, life cycles, and habitats of moths. “Moth-ers” of all ages and abilities are encouraged to learn about, observe, and document moths in their backyards, parks, and neighborhoods. National Moth Week is being held, worldwide, during the last full week of July. NMW offers everyone, everywhere a unique opportunity to become a Citizen Scientist and contribute scientific data about moths.” They go on to say, “National Moth Week offers an unparalleled opportunity to contribute meaningful scientific data about moths. We encourage data collection and high quality photographic documentation of moths during National Moth Week for anyone interested in this important endeavor.”

If you want to participate you don’t need much more than some enthusiasm, a light you can leave on during the night, a white sheet( optional), and an app like iNaturalist that will help with identification. Suspend the white sheet outside between trees or on a building, put your light near the sheet and then wait to see what interesting things come to visit. You’ll be amazed at the sheer variety of insects! Then you can upload your images to iNaturalist so scientists around the world can use your data to help protect and learn about insects. It’s that easy! 

Here’s information on how to submit your data. 

Check out some photos from my weekend at Mothapalooza 2022, along with some of moths that I’ve taken through the years. I’m sure you’ll agree with me that moths can be beautiful too! I highly recommend looking at this slide show on something other than your cell phone–that’s very tiny, and hard to appreciate the beauty of these moths.

Maybe you’ll get some of these beauties too if you leave on a light for a night and participate in National Moth Week. If so, please use the reply box below to let me know what cool things you see. It’s sure to be interesting!! I can’t wait to hear from you!