2022 Collecting

[jmoths]

Hello everyone!
Response to my absence: I hope I am still remembered by some, I have taken time off this forum not because it was desired, but because I couldn't figure out how to log in with my new account. (The log in for the old page for some reason didn't match up with the new page's log in.) I also contacted the moderators by email but now looking at the email it failed to send... I'm back now, after using the exact same log in. Don't know if I found out the way to log in or the setup changed.

Now that the ideal collecting season is closing, and collectors are putting away their equipment, How was this year in terms of lepidoptera collection for everyone? I'm curious how it went as I collected very little in 2022. Was the season overall good or bad? What were some highlights/discoveries you made?

[MikeH]

I got out a lot less in 2022 than in prior years, generally seemed like a good year but it was stormier than usual. Probably the biggest highlight personally was two new yard butterflies, Polites peckius and Chlosyne gorgone.

I also visited Arizona during the monsoon for the first time and I think it was relatively poor by local standards but I still came away with a few interesting things, especially beetles.

[wollastoni]

W. Europe has been hit by a terrible drought this year, so butterfly numbers have been rather small, especially in summer. Let's hope next year will be better.

[Chuck]

In Upstate NY, Finger Lakes the springs of both 2021 and 2022 were cold and wet, so MV and BLB at night were poor; so much so that in 2022 typically common species were not observed at all.

Summer 2021 suffered recurring severe cold fronts and squalls, which repeatedly crushed Lep populations. On paper, Summer 2022 would appear the same (avg temp, avg rainfall, etc.) but the reality of it was that the storms weren't quite as severe, nor did the temperatures drop so markedly. As a result, Summer 2022 was actually a great year for field work. "Great" of course is relative; it wasn't Denver-type clear blue skies, but four warm, rather sunny days out of every seven I consider "great".

Note that the northern boundary of Finger Lakes is Lake Ontario, and 100km on the other side of Lake Ontario is Ontario, Canada. The 2022 severe storms and heavy rain repeatedly washed through Finger Lakes, but Ontario bore the brunt of the storms. We'd watch the weather radar and time and time again I'd remark to my wife "Well, Kingston [Canada] is getting their ass kicked again." We'd have a bit of rain and then nice sunny weather, Kingston would get clobbered.

In Finger Lakes the end of most field collecting is by 01 Sept. Particularly this year, September was extremely rainy. Contrast that to New Jersey, a four hour drive, and they were in drought.

[Miguel]

Year by year is getting harder to collect in Spain, not only due to weather conditions, there are places where is imposible to get a permit for collecting ,I'm lucky that in my work place I can see mediterranean butterflies as Charaxes jasius, Iolana debilitata or now flying Hipparchia fidia

[kevinkk]

I had a good season in Oregon. We took a number of day and overnight trips. Found some new locations, we had a warm and dry summer,
with the spring being wetter than normal. It's still dry here on the coast, we have fog every day now, but cabbage whites and skippers are
still flying. I did find some larva here at home, Smerinthus cerisyi, which I'm still doubtful breeds here, it wouldn't be the first time
a moth came home from the field hitchhiking on the vehicle.

[eurytides]

I live in Kingston and I concur with Chuck’s assessment of our regular meteorological ass kicking. I did not get out much. My limited observations seemed to suggest that it was a bad year here and I didn’t see many species at large during the day. At night, I started looking for larvae with a UV flashlight with good results, so the moths seemed to do better. I found several Eumorpha pandorus larvae, a first for me.

[jmoths]

In Upstate NY, Finger Lakes the springs of both 2021 and 2022 were cold and wet, so MV and BLB at night were poor; so much so that in 2022 typically common species were not observed at all.

Summer 2021 suffered recurring severe cold fronts and squalls, which repeatedly crushed Lep populations. On paper, Summer 2022 would appear the same (avg temp, avg rainfall, etc.) but the reality of it was that the storms weren't quite as severe, nor did the temperatures drop so markedly. As a result, Summer 2022 was actually a great year for field work. "Great" of course is relative; it wasn't Denver-type clear blue skies, but four warm, rather sunny days out of every seven I consider "great".

Note that the northern boundary of Finger Lakes is Lake Ontario, and 100km on the other side of Lake Ontario is Ontario, Canada. The 2022 severe storms and heavy rain repeatedly washed through Finger Lakes, but Ontario bore the brunt of the storms. We'd watch the weather radar and time and time again I'd remark to my wife "Well, Kingston [Canada] is getting their ass kicked again." We'd have a bit of rain and then nice sunny weather, Kingston would get clobbered.

In Finger Lakes the end of most field collecting is by 01 Sept. Particularly this year, September was extremely rainy. Contrast that to New Jersey, a four hour drive, and they were in drought.

I heard about the harsh weather and coldness this spring in the east this year... not good