When was the last time you stayed up late to look at bugs? I have to admit it's been awhile for me... probably since the last time I saw a field alight with flashing fireflies, and that has to be at least 10 years ago. Knights Hill Nature Park, a town owned conservation parcel near us, was offering an exploration of nocturnal insects event last week and it was too good to pass up. When I asked Aiden if he'd like to stay up way past his bedtime and go on a nature adventure with a few friends, he didn't pause to consider the offer. YEEESSS! PLEEEEZZZZ!
Our host at Knights Hill, the ever-patient Fred, tacked up a blank white sheet against the side of the interpretive hut and shined a huge spotlight on it. And then we waited for the moths to show up. Since "waiting" is not something four-year-olds are particularly good at, Aiden and his friends Molly and Sam spent the time searching with flashlights and headlamps in the nearby fields, ransacking Fred's interpretive hut, and consulting each other about cool caterpillars, moths, and butterflies they looked up in the many field guides Fred had out. After a while a very large and cool moth did arrive, which turned out to be a "Blinded Hawk Moth" - complete with fake eye spots to keep predators at bay. The remaining moths that showed up were mostly small, but some were very beautifully patterned. We also saw dozens of huge green katydids eating the milkweed plants in the fields, a mad junebug, and an absolutely enormous and fleshy grey mottled spider that was hanging out on a corner of the interpretive hut, clearly psyched that someone had ordered a hundred small moths to be delivered to his residence that evening.
The blinded hawk moth
Fred identifying something
The huge and almost full moon had just risen above the pines beyond the fields as we were getting ready to leave, so we decided on a quick moonlight hike around the fields with the kids before turning in. It was a beautiful evening and a great way to explore something you don't see every day.
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