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ALLAN BOVEE - PHOTOGRAPHY ADVENTURES IN NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY JANUARY 2008
The best way to find them for me has been to locate a breeding female. Like most moths, they are attracted to lights and in late spring and early summer on my trips up north, I look for bright beacons in a wooded area such as neon advertising signs or parking lot lights in state parks. At one motel I stayed at a lot in Gaylord , their sign by the road was always a good source of moths. Once I find one I immediately put her in a large open paper bag (always ask for paper when they ask you at your supermarket "paper or plastic") and seal up the top. Usually you have caught a moth just after breeding and she is too tired to fly to some hickory tree to lay her eggs on the leaves for her young to eat, that is, she is resting and building her strength to fly to the woods. She must then search the woods for the right trees. If the tree is wrong, the young will die, they can't digest any other leaves than hickory, walnut or birch. Also, the young caterpillars upon hatching will never be able to crawl down one tree and climb others until they find the right tree. So she must be right the first time. How does she know which tree is a hickory or birch to lay her eggs on? She tastes the leaves, using the taste buds on her feet. When she finds the right species of tree she immediately lays from 30 to 100 eggs. When I place a female moth in a paper bag,
it apparently tastes good, because the next day I will find a mess of eggs. Then
back home, I cut out the eggs leaving them attached to the paper and set them up
in an aquarium with a screen cover. I supply branches of the right leaves but
keep the leaves fresh by sticking the branch ends in water so the leaves don't
wilt. I lay the eggs with the paper cut out all over the leaves and as the eggs
hatch, the young caterpillars immediately begin to eat the leaves. In a month or
two, after many changes of leaves, I have many mature caterpillars and they
start to cocoon, using the leaves in the aquarium. Once they form cocoons, I
take them out and put them in the refrigerator to store them until next spring.
It is during the winter when one can do some horse trading. Luna cocoons are a prize for other cocoon hunters and moth photographers and I have traded some of mine for butterfly and moth cocoons of others. I have swapped for tiger, spicebush and black swallowtail butterflies, Baltimores, and mourning cloaks. Once I traded three lunas for a rare Milbert's tortoise shell, but when it hatched and I took it out in the yard, it flew off and all I could do was watch the beautiful butterfly disappear into the woods. When the weather warms I then place the cocoons in another aquarium and mist them with water to simulate the coming spring. You can watch the larva wiggle with excitement as they begin their metamorphosis. When they hatch they are ready for photography. Look for early blooming wildflowers and emerging spring vegetation to place the adult moths on and there they can be photographed. However, it isn't always easy. Place the moths on a cardboard and carry them to your photo set. Do not touch their wings or you will leave fingerprints. Some fly away like a bird out of your hand when you get outside with them. But many seek green leaves or plants to hide on letting their natural colors work to hide them. In fact, if one lands on plant they are comfortable with, they usually won't leave until it gets dark, they just don't like to fly in the daytime. After the photo session, I leave them to fly away when it gets dark. Once when I was setting up a luna moth for photography, I noticed a female's tail streamers had broken off, maybe through fluttering on emerging from her cocoon. At any rate, I didn't want her as a specimen and set her on the side of my house to fly away that evening. The next morning, I went outside and noticed another luna on the ground near where I had released the first one. But this one had complete tail streamers. So the female had attracted a male from the woods behind my house. It was the first wild one I had found in my woods, all of my specimens had come from up north. How a female luna can attract a male from far away is a really incredible story. The female usually finds an open spot, like the side of my house, and releases a pheromone, a scent, that waifs through the air to attract a male. The moths pick up the scent in their comb-like antenna and they are extremely sensitive. In tests done by scientists, one male was found to have been guided to the female by scent alone from seven miles away. The female's glands carry only one ten millionth of a gram of the love scent and she releases only a portion of that at a time. With miles of air intervening, it is unlikely that more than a few molecules would strike the antenna scent organs of the male. This is clearly the most incredible sense of smell in the world. The mature moths do not eat, indeed they do not have any mouthparts. The moth is simply a reproductive vehicle for a caterpillar that wouldn't be able to find a mate by crawling around and looking. The adults only live a few days since they can't replenish themselves and so the breeding activity is a short, frenzy of searching and finding each other. When I do locate some moths they are usually exhausted and easy to catch if not already dead from all the activity.
Return to PHOTOGRAPHY JOURNAL main page. Date this page was edited: January 6, 2008.
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Luna
moths are beautiful green moths that are three or four inches in length with long
streamer tails on their wings. Although they are becoming increasingly rare in
the wild, finding specimens for photography is still possible with a little
effort and work. A cocoon in the wild is very difficult thing to see as the
caterpillar rolls a leaf over on the ground and seals itself in it with
silk. The leaf will remain hidden among the rest of fallen leafs until spring.
Caterpillars are easier to find, but not by looking but rather by serendipity.
Just being aware while walking outdoors though the woods and moving slowly while
stopping and observing just may get you to detect movement as the larva forages
on its host plant. Luna caterpillars can be found eating the leaves of hickory,
walnut and birch trees.
All
of the large Saturnid moths such as the luna and others like the Cecropia and
Promethea can be found and raised for photography. You must pay attention and be
observant in your travels. I once found a large Polyphemus moth in the middle of
a dirt road I was slowly driving in the Upper Peninsula while listening for
birds in the very early morning. I put her in a paper bag and was rewarded with
about a hundred eggs when I got home. Raising the moths is an interesting
recreation while you are waiting for your photography specimens. And if
someone has a Milbert's tortoise shell, let me know and we can do some trading.