Winter Moth Baiting
- Baiting must be done WELL AWAY from all visitor use areas.
- All baiting must be done at least 1/2 mile from places like campgrounds, picnic areas, headquarters, etc.
- Baiting done along marked trails must be done at least 10 meters off the trail.
- Bait should only be used when it is necessary.
- If wildlife (especially bears) are using the site, discontinue all use in the vicinity immediately.
- Safety - before heading out on the trail please see "For Your Safety".
- Everyone collecting specimens in the Park is required to obtain a collecting permit. This can be applied for online on the National Park Service Research Permit and Reporting System.
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- Baiting or “sugaring” is a tried and true technique for sampling many types of moths.
- Published moth diversity studies based solely on light samples often are conspicuously deficient in abundant and diverse groups which may be easily sampled at bait.
- Baiting is an especially effective sampling method for winter moths and for obtaining females, as bait catches are much less male-biased than light trap catches.
- Baiting is most effective in temperate forests where the bait mimics tree wounds that occur naturally; dry pine and oak woods can be especially good.
- The efficacy of baiting drops off southward, especially in mesic habitats, where the technique may not be worth the time or money it takes to prepare the bait.
- The technique works best when natural food resources are scarce.
- Baiting is frustratingly unpredictable; more often than not there is no obvious explanation for poor or spectacular baiting.
- Bait concoctions vary from the simple to the complex.
- Many experienced baiters swear by one ingredient or another like blackstrap molasses or some secret substance.
- One fairly simple recipe includes the following: one can of beer (or apple cider), 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1/4 – 1/2 cup molasses, about four over-ripe bananas or equivalent in apples, peaches, pears, quinces, etc., a brewer’s yeast tablet (optional), and a spoonful of cornmeal (optional). Mix the ingredients with a blender or hand mixer, then allow to ferment in a warm slightly vented container for a few days. Do not store bait in a sealed glass container—it can explode from gas pressure. Good bait will smell strongly of alcohol.
- Not surprisingly, fermenting fruits, such as spoiled watermelon, also draw moths, sometimes in staggering numbers.
- Similarly, oozing trees wounds are attractive to many types of moths.
- Apply the bait to tree trunks around sunset.
- Select trees with smooth bark or plates of smooth bark; pines, hickories, cherries, and birches are all good; corky or absorbent bark (like white oak) is best avoided.
- Use a broad clean brush and apply bait about head height in a patch roughly 20-30 cm across.
- Follow a trail, edge, or roadside, or bait areas with relatively little understory.
- Vary the direction and thus wind exposure, and in cool seasons bait sunny patches to the extent possible.
- If trees are in short supply, sponges can be soaked in bait and hung from branch tips or even set on the ground (e.g., in grasslands).
- Another method is to submerse a length of rope in bait and then string it between two objects.
- The optimal temperature range for baiting is about 11-18ºC (52-64ºF) in most areas.
- Baiting is only slightly affected by moon phase, but on very bright nights, trees in the open may yield fewer moths than those in the shadows.
- In late fall, winter, and early spring, a warm day (over 65ºF) with a mild evening is best for cool-season baiting; high humidity, light rain or drizzle may help, especially in xeric habitats that have been dry for a period.
- Collecting
- Most moths will arrive within the first two hours—this is especially true of winter moths but also the case for many summer-active species, including species that normally do not appear at lights until after midnight .
- While both butterflies and moths that have been imbibing bait for a time tend to get intoxicated, others are quick to fly off.
- Approach the bait slowly and keep your flashlight beam off of the bait patch initially.
- One rule is that once light has been directed on a moth, do not interrupt the beam.
- Some collectors carry a net in one hand for especially active moths like Catocala.
- Xylenines tend to drop to the ground (into leaf litter) and feign death when startled, so if you are carrying a net, place it beneath the bait patch before bringing your flashlight beam across any moths.
- Bait attracts more than moths.
- Bears, skunks, white-footed mice, and foxes are just a few of the species that may lick away at a bait patch.
- Baiting is also one of the best ways to encounter flying squirrels, some individuals eat mainly bait, while others feast on the moths - wings at the base of a bait patch usually indicates flying squirrel activity.
- In winter, screech owls may hunt a bait trial for moths and mice.
- A variety of other insects frequent bait: ants, wasps, flies, camel crickets, and even caterpillars, especially climbing cutworms, hadenines, and tiger moths (Arctiidae), stop to imbibe bait.
- Labeling.
- Be sure labels are properly filled out, using pencil, noting date, place (GPS readings if possible, see Guidelines for Collecting GPS Data) and name of collector.
- Use a separate container for each site.
- Record more detailed information in a field journal or on the back of each label: weather, site description, time of day, and other features of interest.
