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Discovering Moths: Nighttime Jewels in Your Own Backyard
In lively, accessible prose, he explains the intricacy of moths' life cycle, their importance in nature, and how just a tiny handful of the many moth species are truly pests to humans. He tells how to attract moths with lights and bait, when and where to observe them, and how best to photograph these tiny subjects. Entertaining personal anecdotes and short profiles of some of the country's foremost mothers add human interest.
232 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
3 people are currently reading
52 people want to read
About the author
John Himmelman
135 books45 followersJohn Himmelman is the author and illustrator of more than sixty books for children, including Chickens to the Rescue. He lives in Connecticut with his family.
According John's Facebook page, he has been "making up stories and scribbling pictures since I could hold a crayon in my hand. It became my job in 1981, when my first book, "Talester the Lizard" was published during my last year in college (School of Visual Arts)....It behooves a writer to try and turn what interests them into their work. I've been fortunate to do that with my love of nature, with books - for adults and children - focusing on different natural history topics."
According John's Facebook page, he has been "making up stories and scribbling pictures since I could hold a crayon in my hand. It became my job in 1981, when my first book, "Talester the Lizard" was published during my last year in college (School of Visual Arts)....It behooves a writer to try and turn what interests them into their work. I've been fortunate to do that with my love of nature, with books - for adults and children - focusing on different natural history topics."
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 24, 2015
_Discovering Moths_ by John Himmelman is a wonderful, witty, and informative look at all things moth, a book packed with beautiful color photographs and black-and-white drawings by the author as well as a glossary and a bibliography, a well-researched book that is also easily accessible to non-experts like me.
A very personable book, the author described his personal interests, discoveries, and fascination with these (mostly) nocturnal members of the order Lepidoptera, of which there are 110,000 species in the world, 11,000 in North America, and 2,300 in the author's home state of Connecticut. The first chapter described a group of adults and children he lead on August evening to look for moths, conveying quite well both his passion and his skill at presenting the world of moths to others. In this chapter, Himmelman described how he "sugared" for moths (baiting trees by painting on a mixture of stale beer, brown sugar, and various other aromatic and largely sweet ingredients) and provided instructions how others might attract moths the same way.
Chapter two looked at the life cycle of moths. He examined caterpillars in depth, including anatomy, locomotion, and feeding techniques (some actually feed beneath the surface of the water, while others, such as carpenterworms, bore into wood). He looked at caterpillar predators (major ones include ichneumon wasps and stinkbugs) and caterpillar defenses (some shoot acid). Pupation and cocoons were covered, as well as of course adult moth anatomy and physiology, including discussing how moths stay warm on cool nights (hair-like scales insulate their bodies and they shiver, vibrating their wings rapidly to warm the flight muscles) and how long they live (some live only a few days - and in fact are born without working mouthparts and so do not feed as adults - while others live for a few months, though the average life for an adult butterfly or moth is about two weeks).
The third chapter looked at fifteen of the most commonly encountered moth families, providing overall life histories, descriptions, and profiles of representative species. Family Arctiidae for instance includes Tiger Moths (one species of which, the Isabella Moth, has as its larval form the famous Woolly Bear caterpillar) and Wasp Moths (day-flying moths that closely resemble wasps). Some members of this family also produce sounds that either help attract mates or warn bats of their unpalatability. Other notable families include the Owlet Moths and Cutworm Moths (Noctuidae, which is the largest of the Lepidoptera families and includes the blood-sucking Vampire Moth of India and Malaysia) and the Slug Caterpillar Moths (Limacodidae, whose caterpillars lack legs but have rather a sucker-like foot on their underside).
Chapter four looked at what most people think of when they think of moths (well, one of the first things anyway); why moths are attracted to light. Surprisingly, there is not complete agreement on the subject. Most theories see moths not as attracted to light but rather trapped by it. Some theories imagine moths as seeing a dark halo around a light source and that moths attempting to escape the light head towards these dark areas, though instead of escaping the light they are either drawn nearer to it or left hopelessly spiraling around it. Other researchers speculate that moths rest around porch lights because to them it is as bright as day (and thus time to rest).
In this chapter Himmelman also discussed how bug zappers with disabled electrifying grids are an excellent way to attract moths but that otherwise the devices are evil, as they kill very few mosquitoes but kill thousands of harmless or beneficial insects, including not only moths but midges and various mosquito predators. Himmelman also covered how to attract moths with glowing sheets hanging in one's backyard (as well as some of the pitfalls of this technique; predators soon learn the location of these sheets, requiring the moth-watcher to either move the sheets or take a few nights off once in a while lest local birds, wasps, and frogs make a meal of all those moths).
Chapter five examined a typical year of moth activity in the author's backyard, describing moths for each month of the year. I was surprised to learn that some moths, such as a group called the Sallows, is active in the cold month of March (they feed on the flowing sap of maples, beeches, and birches, getting at the sap thanks to broken branches, woodpeckers, and maple sugar farmers).
Chapter six looked at the interaction of moths and men. A wide-ranging and too brief chapter, the author looked at among other things Mothra (nemesis of Godzilla), moth pests (notably the Gypsy Moth), the Death's Head Spinx (the moth of _Silence of the Lambs_), moths and commercial silk production, moths as food, and even Mexican jumping beans (the larvae of a moth whose larval and pupal stages occur within the seed capsules of the Mexican bean shrub).
Chapter seven looked at famous pioneers in the study of moths (and some of their bitter rivalries) and chapter eight looked at notable researchers in the field today.
Chapter nine showed how to find and raise moths from egg, larval, or pupae stages and discussed some of the equipment one might construct towards that end, including beating sheets (to help get caterpillars from branches), a "caterpillary" (a way to help keep a branch fresh in a terrarium for hungry caterpillars without drowning them), caterpillar sleeves (a way to rear caterpillars outdoors), and a "cocoonery" (an outdoor structure that gives newly emerging moths plenty of room to stretch their wings once they leave their pupal stage). He also had several pages of tips devoted to moth photography.
Chapter ten was a fascinating look at day-flying moths and chapter eleven examined the pros and cons of collecting moths versus only observing or photographing them, debates over why some insects seem to be more worth saving than others, the ethics of butterfly releases at weddings and funerals (he is against the practice), and issues of moth habitat preservation.
A very personable book, the author described his personal interests, discoveries, and fascination with these (mostly) nocturnal members of the order Lepidoptera, of which there are 110,000 species in the world, 11,000 in North America, and 2,300 in the author's home state of Connecticut. The first chapter described a group of adults and children he lead on August evening to look for moths, conveying quite well both his passion and his skill at presenting the world of moths to others. In this chapter, Himmelman described how he "sugared" for moths (baiting trees by painting on a mixture of stale beer, brown sugar, and various other aromatic and largely sweet ingredients) and provided instructions how others might attract moths the same way.
Chapter two looked at the life cycle of moths. He examined caterpillars in depth, including anatomy, locomotion, and feeding techniques (some actually feed beneath the surface of the water, while others, such as carpenterworms, bore into wood). He looked at caterpillar predators (major ones include ichneumon wasps and stinkbugs) and caterpillar defenses (some shoot acid). Pupation and cocoons were covered, as well as of course adult moth anatomy and physiology, including discussing how moths stay warm on cool nights (hair-like scales insulate their bodies and they shiver, vibrating their wings rapidly to warm the flight muscles) and how long they live (some live only a few days - and in fact are born without working mouthparts and so do not feed as adults - while others live for a few months, though the average life for an adult butterfly or moth is about two weeks).
The third chapter looked at fifteen of the most commonly encountered moth families, providing overall life histories, descriptions, and profiles of representative species. Family Arctiidae for instance includes Tiger Moths (one species of which, the Isabella Moth, has as its larval form the famous Woolly Bear caterpillar) and Wasp Moths (day-flying moths that closely resemble wasps). Some members of this family also produce sounds that either help attract mates or warn bats of their unpalatability. Other notable families include the Owlet Moths and Cutworm Moths (Noctuidae, which is the largest of the Lepidoptera families and includes the blood-sucking Vampire Moth of India and Malaysia) and the Slug Caterpillar Moths (Limacodidae, whose caterpillars lack legs but have rather a sucker-like foot on their underside).
Chapter four looked at what most people think of when they think of moths (well, one of the first things anyway); why moths are attracted to light. Surprisingly, there is not complete agreement on the subject. Most theories see moths not as attracted to light but rather trapped by it. Some theories imagine moths as seeing a dark halo around a light source and that moths attempting to escape the light head towards these dark areas, though instead of escaping the light they are either drawn nearer to it or left hopelessly spiraling around it. Other researchers speculate that moths rest around porch lights because to them it is as bright as day (and thus time to rest).
In this chapter Himmelman also discussed how bug zappers with disabled electrifying grids are an excellent way to attract moths but that otherwise the devices are evil, as they kill very few mosquitoes but kill thousands of harmless or beneficial insects, including not only moths but midges and various mosquito predators. Himmelman also covered how to attract moths with glowing sheets hanging in one's backyard (as well as some of the pitfalls of this technique; predators soon learn the location of these sheets, requiring the moth-watcher to either move the sheets or take a few nights off once in a while lest local birds, wasps, and frogs make a meal of all those moths).
Chapter five examined a typical year of moth activity in the author's backyard, describing moths for each month of the year. I was surprised to learn that some moths, such as a group called the Sallows, is active in the cold month of March (they feed on the flowing sap of maples, beeches, and birches, getting at the sap thanks to broken branches, woodpeckers, and maple sugar farmers).
Chapter six looked at the interaction of moths and men. A wide-ranging and too brief chapter, the author looked at among other things Mothra (nemesis of Godzilla), moth pests (notably the Gypsy Moth), the Death's Head Spinx (the moth of _Silence of the Lambs_), moths and commercial silk production, moths as food, and even Mexican jumping beans (the larvae of a moth whose larval and pupal stages occur within the seed capsules of the Mexican bean shrub).
Chapter seven looked at famous pioneers in the study of moths (and some of their bitter rivalries) and chapter eight looked at notable researchers in the field today.
Chapter nine showed how to find and raise moths from egg, larval, or pupae stages and discussed some of the equipment one might construct towards that end, including beating sheets (to help get caterpillars from branches), a "caterpillary" (a way to help keep a branch fresh in a terrarium for hungry caterpillars without drowning them), caterpillar sleeves (a way to rear caterpillars outdoors), and a "cocoonery" (an outdoor structure that gives newly emerging moths plenty of room to stretch their wings once they leave their pupal stage). He also had several pages of tips devoted to moth photography.
Chapter ten was a fascinating look at day-flying moths and chapter eleven examined the pros and cons of collecting moths versus only observing or photographing them, debates over why some insects seem to be more worth saving than others, the ethics of butterfly releases at weddings and funerals (he is against the practice), and issues of moth habitat preservation.
March 20, 2023
This book was recommended to me by a moth-enthusiast friend after I started trying out light trapping/baiting for moths in my own backyard for National Moth Week. Loved it--very evocative descriptions of the magic of nighttime moth-watching and the joys of discovery. My favorite chapters were on the life cycle of moths and cycle of the seasons for a moth-er. Despite having read almost every book I could find on insects when I was a kid, I still learned a lot about their metamorphosis reading this as an adult. Himmelman writes about the process with accessible and innovative language. And just like in birding, there are different moth species to eagerly await that mark the passage of the year. Fellow nature-lovers will recognize him as a kindred spirit.
My only complaint is that he didn't feature any women in his chapter on historical people who studied moths. I know there were female insect enthusiasts/collectors because I've heard of them elsewhere, though they gained much less recognition and plaudits (if any) during their time and therefore less evidence remains.
My only complaint is that he didn't feature any women in his chapter on historical people who studied moths. I know there were female insect enthusiasts/collectors because I've heard of them elsewhere, though they gained much less recognition and plaudits (if any) during their time and therefore less evidence remains.
December 23, 2020
Overall disappointing. The photographs and drawings were nice, and the first half of the book had some interesting information. The second half of the book dragged on with a journal like, anecdotal quality that I hadn't expected.
January 7, 2013
If you are a beginning or experienced naturalist who wants to start observing moths, this book is the place to start.
If you think that moths aren't worth observing, or that they are scary, or that they are pests, well, then you should also read this book to learn the truth about moths. Consider:
What happens at night when you go to bed? All about you, under cover of darkness, flowers that you have never seen open. Moths that you have never imagined stir from their hiding places and take flight. Some are tiny, others quite large. The moths visit the flowers, drawing nourishment from them. In turn, the flowers are pollinated by the moths, so that they may produce seeds, and a whole new generation of flowers. A good deal of the plants that need pollination are pollinated by moths. Our world: a better place because of moths. And what do they ask from us? Some habitat, a few wild little niches in our backyards and our public spaces; perhaps some clean air; a nighttime not too cluttered with light pollution.
So think about it next time you go to bed. The moths are arising to remake your world.
Anyway, on to the book. Well written prose giving a good general introduction to the world of moths and mothers (that's moth-ers, moth enthusiasts). Himmelman has also included black and white illustrations throughout the text. These are technical pen drawings of many moths and caterpillars. Contrary to the tradition with technical ink drawings, Himmelman has added an artistic flair to many of them. For instance, he may have a moth illustrated perched on a tree, but in the distance the moon is also visible shining down on the moth. At first this bothered me a little: just didn't seem to fit. Now, however, I'm happy with it. Himmelman really is a first-rate illustrator.
Oh yeah, and those bug zappers (remember those?): if you have one, please don't use it. They don't kill mosquitoes. They kill moths.
If you think that moths aren't worth observing, or that they are scary, or that they are pests, well, then you should also read this book to learn the truth about moths. Consider:
What happens at night when you go to bed? All about you, under cover of darkness, flowers that you have never seen open. Moths that you have never imagined stir from their hiding places and take flight. Some are tiny, others quite large. The moths visit the flowers, drawing nourishment from them. In turn, the flowers are pollinated by the moths, so that they may produce seeds, and a whole new generation of flowers. A good deal of the plants that need pollination are pollinated by moths. Our world: a better place because of moths. And what do they ask from us? Some habitat, a few wild little niches in our backyards and our public spaces; perhaps some clean air; a nighttime not too cluttered with light pollution.
So think about it next time you go to bed. The moths are arising to remake your world.
Anyway, on to the book. Well written prose giving a good general introduction to the world of moths and mothers (that's moth-ers, moth enthusiasts). Himmelman has also included black and white illustrations throughout the text. These are technical pen drawings of many moths and caterpillars. Contrary to the tradition with technical ink drawings, Himmelman has added an artistic flair to many of them. For instance, he may have a moth illustrated perched on a tree, but in the distance the moon is also visible shining down on the moth. At first this bothered me a little: just didn't seem to fit. Now, however, I'm happy with it. Himmelman really is a first-rate illustrator.
Oh yeah, and those bug zappers (remember those?): if you have one, please don't use it. They don't kill mosquitoes. They kill moths.
January 18, 2016
What's the difference between moths and butterflies? Not what one would normally assume, e.g. all moths are night-fliers while butterflies are day-fliers. John Himmelman notes the major difference being that "only butterflies create what is called a chrysalis" while the "moth pupae . . . is attached either to a cocoon or within a leaf, which in turn is connected to the plant". . . so much for the technical differences. Most of this book is however filled with years of Himmelman's first-hand field knowledge wherein he shares his love of natural history. Starting with his first moth identification, "Rosy Maple (or Sherbet) Moths," the pages of this book are filled with moth stories utilizing Himmelman's characteristic humor ("If you put an infinite number of silk moth caterpillars into an infinite variety of sizes of glass jars, would the frass eventually 'tink' the melodies of all of Beethoven's symphonies?"). My only complaint is that the book is more oriented towards Eastern moths found in Himmelman's Connecticut home. Also, the section on photography is outdated in its focus on film techniques, rather than on digital. I appreciated his albeit brief discussion of Müllerian vs. Batesian mimicry regarding moth defenses. And his last chapter, "To Kill, or not to Kill" regarding ethics of collecting was handled with sensitivity and fairness. I found this to be an excellent beginner's introduction to the world of moths.
December 30, 2012
If you photograph or in anyway are interested in moths, this is the book to read and own. I keep it on my guidebook shelf not because it is a good guidebook but because it has information that you need to help you find and identify moths. The author is from Connecticut, so many of the moths he sees I see here. Himmelman has confirmed many thoughts I had about moths and dispelled other ideas I had that were wrong. There are sections about each moth family, how to attract moths, his mothing jaunts, and much more. But the most fun was reading about how other people who love moths behave. It's so much of what I do!
September 9, 2012
The first half of this book was simply fantastic; informative, witty, engaging. The second half was kind of weird, composed of short biographies of the who's who of influential moth people!? I would buy the book for the 1st half, but unless you are crazily into every person who has ever loved a moth, I would just skip the 2nd half. Highly recommended though. Moths are fascinating creatures and this book testifies of their awesomeness.
March 8, 2011
Interesting book on moths, the nocturnal partners of butterflies. It is not so much about their identification as about finding and attracting them, their natural history, and some of the people who have studied moths, both now and in the past.
July 17, 2013
I loved all the information that the author gave from first-hand experience. Not only did I learn about the biology and life-cycle of moths but about their relationship in history, mythology and civilization. Very good!
July 26, 2013
John helped me out as a mentor of sorts when I first discovered the magic of moths a dozen years ago. An engaging read that explores the wonderful world of these often overlooked insects, written with humor and insight both. A keen naturalist and author, I would also recommend 'Cricket Radio'.
July 23, 2013
One who encourages others to explore nature must know this author and his work
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews