NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/946863
MARCH 2018 • NEBRASKAland 19 few native habitats. I have known Brogie, who recently retired after 34 years as a high school science teacher in Creighton, since the late 1970s, when we were both biology majors at Wayne State College. He was known then as a serious birder and still is, having observed more bird species in Nebraska (418) than anyone else. When a waif bean goose or Harris's hawk wanders into our state, he will drive miles to see it. Brogie added mothing as a hobby in 2014. "I was practicing with the macro lens on my new camera taking photos of moths attracted to our porch light," said Brogie. "Out of interest, I looked up and identified some on websites." When Brogie learned that many of these moths had never been reported for our state he was hooked. "I discovered that Nebraska was delinquent in moth records, and I would help us catch up with other states," he said. On most summer nights, he now stays up into the wee hours capturing and photographing moths attracted to an array of lights set up in his backyard. On our night of mothing, as darkness descended and the sounds of crickets chirping replaced that of children playing, Brogie put the final touches on his mothing stations. He hung a white sheet below a low, sprawling mulberry branch with a fluorescent light wired above it. Moths attracted to the light would land on the sheet. Another light hung from a branch of the walnut tree, one by the lilacs and yet another below the back deck, all with sheets spread on the ground below or hung nearby. The glowing sheets below the illuminated trees cast a Halloween eeriness over the yard. Brogie has experimented with a variety of lights – from black, mercury halide, incandescent, and soft white to color-enhanced bulbs – because various moth species are attracted to different wavelengths of light. While scientists are not entirely sure why moths are attracted to light, they have theories. "My sets are Mothing 101 and not very complicated," said Brogie. "Some people use various moth traps and baits to attract them [some moth species will come only to bait and not lights]. I haven't had time to build sophisticated sets, but I hope to someday." Brogie has mothed at other sites, such as campgrounds at Indian Cave and Ponca state parks with electrical outlets. But without a mobile power source to run lights, his mothing is mainly restricted to his backyard. Soon moths began drifting in, circling the lights before settling on the sheets. Brogie moved between stations checking for moths with the anticipation of a catfisherman running his set lines. When a moth sparked his interest he placed a clear plastic cup over the moth and then slid a thin piece of cardboard along the sheet, trapping the moth between it and the cup. He transported the captured moths to ABOVE: Mark Brogie checks for moths on a sheet illuminated by a fluorescent light. OPPOSITE: A white-lined sphinx moth hovers while feeding on a tall thistle flower. It is one of 32 species of sphinx moths known in Nebraska.