A banner year for moths

[rmb...@istar.ca]

I've had my moth lights on almost every night these past 6 weeks, and
most "warm" nights before that starting in March. Here at the peak of
the season it's been very entertaining. I've had a few new ones and
some rare ones. To date I've had 14 luna moths and about 8 cecropias.
Two nights ago on the 5th June I had six cecropias, all males. Had
I found a female she would have been captured and set up in a screen
cage, I know a couple of people who have raised the caterpillars and
overwintered the cocoons.

I have been worried about the smoke from the fires out west,
fortunately it is not as thick as a couple of years ago. I had
visited the Queen's U. Biology Station open house that year and the
students doing the ongoing studies of tree swallows reported that the
smoke had driven the flying insects down into the tall grass where the
birds couldn't catch them, and the chicks died of starvation. I pray
we don't have a repeat of that situation. The one thing I noticed
here was that when the smoke arrived all the little "millers" dropped
off to just about nil. These are the gnats and squaregills and other
live-for-one-day-as-adults that pepper the windowsill and white sheet
that I have on the shelf on the balcony. Also the little wee "micro
moths" were absent, so I'm wondering if air quality affects them.
I've been terribly busy in the dry weather trying to get gardening and
outdoor work done that I was unable to get to during the wet month of
May, I should be keeping notes on temps and conditions affecting such
observations. Has anyone else noticed the smoke haze affecting the
insects?

Attached are a Sheathed Quaker (iNat pegs this one EN), a Green-dusted
Zale (new to me this year), and a couple of Lunas. My iNaturalist
account is RMBurke, all my moth (and other species) are posted on there.

Rose-Marie, near Perth Road Village