Moths
Moths outnumber butterflies many times over and handle much of the night pollination shift. These guides cover identification from giant silk moths to hawk moths, plus how to observe them after dark.
Harmless, and quietly essential. Moths run the night pollination shift and feed half the garden's birds as caterpillars. The pantry raiders are a separate, different few.
Size
3 to 300 mm
wingspan, micromoth to atlas
Diet
Nectar after dark
many adults never feed
Antennae
Feathered or plain
never clubbed like a butterfly
Habitat
Out after dark
drawn to lights
Species
Around 160,000
ten to every butterfly
Life cycle
The same four stages as a butterfly, but most moths spin a silk cocoon or pupate in the soil.
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Egg Laid on the leaves the caterpillar will need, singly or in neat clusters.
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Caterpillar The eating and growing stage, and the one that feeds most of the garden birds.
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Cocoon Most moths spin a silk cocoon or pupate underground, not in a bare hanging chrysalis.
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Adult The night flier. Many never feed at all and live only a week or two to breed.
The quickest way to tell a resting moth from a butterfly is the antennae: a butterfly ends each one in a little club, a moth never does, it goes feathery or plain instead. After that you notice the moth holds its wings flat like a tent while the butterfly folds them up like hands. Two glances and you have it.
Sam Fielding · field note · about Sam
Typical season
On the wing spring through fall; a warm, still June night brings out the most.
For every butterfly species there are roughly ten species of moth, and most of the night shift of pollination belongs to them.