moth photo in new Update

[Jack Gulvin]

The martin on page 3 has a couple brown moths in her beak. My martins this summer were catching a lot of these moths. Does anyone know what species of moth, or why they fly in daytime instead of at night?

[~Ray~Gingerich]

Jack, there are 11,000 species of moths, they are pollinators and some species suck nector so naturally those would be out during the day. It's hard to tell by the picture but could also be a skipper (butterfly) There are 3,500 species of those.

[Jack Gulvin]

Whew, too many species. I guess I'm free to give them any name: tasty suicidal mystery moths.

[John Miller]

On June 13 this past summer, I made a trek to a satellite colony just outside St. Louis -- at the ski area -- and found that there were small brown colored butterflies everywhere. I'm not an expert, but should have examined one. What struck me was that they were flying about here and there, and alas, despite me saying that martins generally won't take butterflies, there were feeding them to their young. Perhaps moths and butterflies sometimes emerge in swarms that are too tasty to pass up. John M

[Louise Chambers]

They do! One summer here, when drought meant insect food was in short supply, a sudden influx of American Snout butterflies filled many nestling martin bellies here. Snouts are notorious for their population explosions and migrations - an excerpt from http://texasbutterflyranch.com/2012/06/ ... io-austin/

In the annals of American Snout butterfly migrations, 1921 ranks as a most remarkable year.

After a world record downpour in Central Texas on September 9-10, 1921, when 36.4 inches of rain fell in an 18-hour period, a Snout butterfly breakout resulted a few weeks later. “An estimated 25 million per minute southeasterly-bound snout butterflies passed over a 250 mile front from San Marcos to the Rio Grande River,” according to Austin entomologist Mike Quinn’s website Texas Entomology, a trusted and entertaining source for Texas insect news and info. Scientists noted at the time that the butterflies’ flight “lasted 18 days and may have involved more that 6 billion butterflies.”

Wow. So no complaining if a few of the migrating insects get hung up in your car grill. And remember to brake for the butterflies.

I have not asked insect friends for an ID of the cover photo yet, but will try to get to that. The photo was taken in Erie PA and the little brown nummys were abundant at the time.