Christmas Bells

Christmas Bells
Christmas Bells - Blandfordia nobilis

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Swift Moths swarm to porch light, after first decent rain in a month

Tonight many Swift Moths (Oxycanus dirempta) swarmed to my porch light, after the first decent rain in a month.

This brightly coloured specimen liked me enough
to cling to my hand.
Their fondness for appearing in large numbers is reported in the literature for this species - as well as having been repeatedly commented upon in this Blog.
Ted Edwards has written a few notes about this, in the Atlas of Living Australia entry which is linked.

"..... when there are good autumn rains they emerge with the first rain after about 5 April in large numbers. So precisely is their emergence timed with rain that hundreds may be seen on that wet night and almost none before or after." Ted Edwards. CSIRO ANIC.

These are just a few of the moths which had been attracted to my front Porch light earlier on in the night,

You can see more photos of them at this album on my Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152871644639829.1073741927.809229828&type=1&l=c279acbba3
The album is "Open", meaning you do not need to sign up for anything to view my images.

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