|
Post by jhyatt on Jul 12, 2016 4:45:33 GMT -8
You'd indeed think a drought would drive them to bait, but that's certainly not my experience. Low humidity might affect how well or how far the bait scent disperses, I suppose. And it's always possible that fewer specimens emerge in that sort of weather. jh
|
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2016 5:16:46 GMT -8
Interestingly.....my best tapping and sugaring have been during hot and dry periods. I've never done real well in wetter and or cooler times. Just my particular experience....thought I'd share.
|
|
|
Post by joee30 on Jul 12, 2016 15:20:16 GMT -8
Same here. Me and Tom tapped multiple times during a May-June in drought conditions in TN. We found that during drought conditions, they like to be lower in trees, away from the heat. They can be common in tree hollows and cavities.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2016 16:07:10 GMT -8
In my area this is supposed to be the dry season. The rain usually stops around the middle of June and doesn't start back up again until around the end of September. Not this year.
|
|
|
Post by joee30 on Jul 12, 2016 22:18:55 GMT -8
It's dry in my neck of the woods. But then again, I live where the Great Basin meets the Sierra Nevada range. Usually, there are some thunderstorms popping up about this time here, but not this year.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2016 9:42:35 GMT -8
I think they all might be at my house
|
|
|
|
Post by timmsyrj on Jul 13, 2016 11:19:17 GMT -8
I have a friend going to Jamaica at the end of July into August and he has been warned of the high possibilities of bad weather this year due to the changing water currents (from El Niño to La Niña or vice versa) some say the hurricane season could be on a par with 2012, according to searches he's done, so I think the only sun screen he's taking with him is a brolly, I have to say though, looking at the living earth app the storms seem to be off the west coast of Mexico, the Caribbean seems clear.
Hope the weather, and collecting picks up soon for you guys.
Rich
|
|
|
Post by jhyatt on Jul 13, 2016 12:18:29 GMT -8
Bill, baiting has a time-honored history of working well or not at all, pretty much at random. My dry-weather problems may have actually had more to do with that particular batch of bait, or the weather a week or a year ago, or who knows what else!
I've given up tapping for Catocalas. Sometimes I actually do scare one up, but they always seem to fly up to some inaccessible spot.
Cheers, jh
|
|
|
Post by mothman27 on Jul 13, 2016 12:30:58 GMT -8
Very hot here and humid too, although we have had very little rain.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2016 13:34:51 GMT -8
It's fun to sugar the trees for them. Far as actually tree tapping I don't do. I go tree looking. I can see them sitting on the trees. They have good cammo but it's not that good.
|
|
|
Post by trehopr1 on Jul 13, 2016 21:06:34 GMT -8
Well what do you know jtaylor, I also go "tree looking" for Catocala as well. Have done alright over the years. I was beginning to think I might be the only one employing this hunting method. I think it's got to be way better than tree tapping. Running around through the woods chasing a Catocala thru the shadows and not falling over something or oneself is not my idea of good sense. Take the stealthy predator approach and succeed 95% of the time and expend no real energy except to walk to the next available tree !
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2016 9:38:11 GMT -8
Nope trehopr1 you are not alone in your visual catocala acquisition method. It's probably less upsetting to the moths so when one does get flushed from the tree I don't think they fly as far in comparison to if they were jolted by hitting the tree.
|
|
|
Post by mothman27 on Jul 14, 2016 9:49:39 GMT -8
What type of tree of forests are best for tapping/looking?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2016 16:03:28 GMT -8
I find them on maple, hickory and ash trees. Always in the shade.
|
|
|
Post by rayrard on Jul 15, 2016 8:33:17 GMT -8
Well what do you know jtaylor, I also go "tree looking" for Catocala as well. Have done alright over the years. I was beginning to think I might be the only one employing this hunting method. I think it's got to be way better than tree tapping. Running around through the woods chasing a Catocala thru the shadows and not falling over something or oneself is not my idea of good sense. Take the stealthy predator approach and succeed 95% of the time and expend no real energy except to walk to the next available tree ! You need to find oak-hickory forest on a hot day (90+F)and usually in a ravine or sloping hillside heading down to a river. Normally there are rock outcrops in my area. Use a thin, long stick and not an actual bat. Just "tickle" the tree by rubbing the branch along the bark from bottom to as high as you can reach. The moths will flush and fly to other trees. The part of tapping that I have yet to master is spotting them before tapping. Tapping will flush them and your chances of getting a jar over them is much reduced. Even leaf crunches and a new will scare them as you go from tree to tree chasing them down. If you see them before tapping the tree, you can easily jar them most of the time if you are slow and smooth with your jar. You will not have as good luck as with light or bait as far as successful collections, but the biomass will be higher. I have seen over a hundred Catocala while tapping (mostly palaeogama). The hardest part is IDing these moths as when they flush you can not get an ID on them except for "that flew different" or "that was a flash of red" or "that was smaller".
|
|