Behrensia conchiformis | Bugging You From San Juan Island

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Moth Roundup for Friday, April 10, 2026

Posted on April 10, 2026 by BUGGING YOU FROM San Juan Island One comment

This morning started out great until I sat down to try and write up my blog post for the morning. I was, and still hope, to be able to get out my Fantastic Fly Friday post because I do have a very cool fly to show you today too. Unfortunately, I lost all my work this morning because our internet is T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E! I attribute some of it to life on an island. There’s definitely a big trade off. It is not paradise. Ask me if you ever think about moving to an island and I’ll share my list!

Back to my moths though. I have my light and tent from Ecology Supplies going year round on our deck. It’s a great spot because it’s covered, so I don’t get wet when it’s raining. The only thing I’ve had to do is anchor my tent so it doesn’t walk around in the wind.

Here is the little grouping of moths I arranged this morning. All were handled with great care. I am not pinning these specimens. There’s no need for me to do that because with the detail I get from macro photography, and my knowledge and experience observing species out here for almost 18 years now, I’m pretty familiar with most of them. There is no pleasure for me in killing them and sticking a pin in these poor little ones just so I can add them to a physical collection to brag about on social media.

In fact, for me, killing them would put me in the same category as that awful man named Cody Roberts who tortured that poor wolf and took a selfie in a bar before killing it. How anyone feels OK about taking the life of something for a trophy is beyond me. Some people take little insect “trophies.” I’m not really fine with that. Probably I will have plenty of criticism over this, but those citizen science folks who want to advocate for collecting bees or butterflies, or whatever, so they can claim fame as an “expert,” make me uncomfortable. Those photos of the now dead and pinned bees you grabbed off your currants to pin for your “bee expert” class that you bragged about collecting and posted on social media made me feel sad. Take a photo. Stop exploiting life.

You learn more by observing and taking photos and videos than you will ever learn by sticking a pin. I really appreciated my former entomology taxonomy professor, Paul Choate who encouraged me to utilize macro photography and learn by observation instead of merely making a physical collection. While I did have to do this as part of my entomology program requirement, he made an exception so that 30% of my curated collection could include macro photography of my specimens. I also learned how to utilize specimens I found that were already deceased. I think the most disturbing part for me now is seeing the celebration posts I see by folks gleefully sharing their “catch.” There’s nothing to celebrate about killing. Nothing.

I’ve said my piece.

Please enjoy these living beauties I photographed to share with you.

top left to right, Ceanothus Nola moth (Nola minna), Stretchia muricina, Lithophane sp. (I believe L. amanda). bottom left to right, Hydriomena sp. Geometrid moth, Frigid Owlet moth (Nycteola frigidana), and the Owlet Moth (Behrensia conchiformis)

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Moth Light/Bug Tally for 04.19.2025

Posted on April 20, 2025 by BUGGING YOU FROM San Juan Island One comment

Here are some photos of specimens found from my light trap set up last night. The official tally is listed here as well.

Light Trap Count – 4.19.2025
37 specimens. Moths from 8 different Genera; 11 species. 1 Wasp species, 2 Beetle species, and 1 spider species.

Moths:
Orthosia transparens – 3
Orthosia hibisci – 9
Orthosia praeses – 7
Venusia pearsalli – 2
Eupithecia graefii – 1
Egira rubrica -1
Egira simplex- 1
Egira unknown (possibly one of the other two listed here) – 1
Feralia – 3
Perizoma curvilinea – 2
Behrensia conchiformis – 1
Emmelina mondactyla – 1

Beetles from 2 families (Carabidae and Curculionidae)

Carabidae: Diplotaxis sp. – 3

Curculionidae: Strophosoma melanogrammum – 3

Spider:
Philodromus dispar (male) – 1

Wasp:
Ophion sp. – 1

Location: San Juan Island, WA

April 6, 2025 – A Wet Spring Day

Posted on April 6, 2025 by BUGGING YOU FROM San Juan Island One comment

Last night, I did manage to get my moth light working again and set things up to see what I might find this morning. While I didn’t really want to get out of bed at 7:30, keeping a routine is important to me. I find it tremendously helpful in managing the ups and downs of one’s mental perspective. You’ll have to bear with me a bit though. I will get to the moths, but have to vent about something that upset me. One of my three cats was chattering at the sliding door when I walked towards the kitchen. I looked out to see what he was watching, and there was a little bird on the ground, obviously suffering from some unfortunate injury (most likely from our neighbor’s free roaming cat). That made me feel sad and angry and it wasn’t the best start to my day.

Don’t get me wrong. I love cats, but I don’t agree that it is OK to allow your feline friend to maim and kill wildlife. I do take my kitties outside with me into our fenced area for supervised recess, but I DO NOT ever leave my cats out alone and certainly do not allow the killing of wildlife. Not even bugs. Drago the lizard may get away with bug murder on occasion, but his impact is quite minor compared to the magnitude of damage done by free roaming cats when it comes to decimating wildlife.

We need to get people to change and become more responsible pet owners. If you disagree with me on this, I might add that I also saw someone’s cat was literally ripped apart on their front porch by two unleashed huskies in Friday Harbor yesterday. That also makes me sad and angry. I blame the cat owner AND the dog owner. It was senseless and preventable.

I think humans need a license to own a pet. We also need ANIMAL CONTROL in San Juan County. There is none and these huskies have been loose and killed cats before. However, if the cat owner was allowing the cat to roam outside unsupervised and unprotected, that’s another layer to the incident. What if someone had left their baby in a stroller long enough to run inside for keys, a purse, etc.? No one should own a husky as a pet. They are notorious for getting loose and killing things. But humans are not all that smart are they?

I did go out to check on the bird. It sort of looked like a finch, or maybe even a female cowbird (except it was too small to be a cowbird). Let’s just say the head looked like a female cowbird’s, but the body was more finch like in size.

It can hop. I put a bit of seed out on the ground and left it alone. It would just stress the bird for me to try and capture it. Maybe it will recover.

Please don’t say, it’s just nature, because cats are not native here. Also, my neighbor’s cat dug up all of my garden pea starts last year and pooped in the garden bed. Pea starts are expensive. People need to keep their cats indoors, or in a catio, or just supervise them outside so they don’t cause problems or be killed by dogs that should not be owned by humans as pets.

After I checked on the bird, I did go and look at my moth bucket. There were 7 specimens. Not many, but I went through them and here’s what I found. Six moths and one wasp.

*Cerastis enigmatica*, the Enigmatic Dart Moth

*Orthosia hibisci*, the Speckled Green Fruitworm Moth

*Egira crucialis* , I believe. Egira for certain though

Orthosia sp. I am undecided about species for this one.

The next moth below looks like it has a little pixie cap on. It’s one of my favorites. The red colors are so pretty. It’s in genus Orthosia like some of the others above, but I believe this one is Orthosia transparens.

I saved the best one for last. I have only seen this moth on two other occasions, but it one so remarkable, you remember it well. This is an owlet moth called Behrensia conchiformis. I would love to discover what makes the interesting metallic colors in the wings. The larvae of this species are foodplant specialists. They feed only on honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.) and snowberry (Symphoricarpos spp.) in the Caprifoliaceae.

Thanks for reading…especially for reading my rambling rants of the day. While I’d like to stick to just bugs, I am finding it somewhat therapeutic to include my feelings here, and to interject some of my opinions. They are mine and yours may be different. I respect that, but I hope perhaps upon reflection, even someone who might initially disagree with my perspective, might have a change of heart.