We’ve been having some wild weather in Howe Sound the last few days. On Friday as I watched our Douglas firs bend double with the wind and nervously watched my lights flicker, I got thinking about “fallout”, when migratory birds get caught up in an extraordinary weather event and are forced to land in a small geographical area. What I was wondering was: is there such a thing as moth fallout? Probably, hey?

Every fall I think about the one Orthosia species I just can’t seem to find: Orthosia mys. It’s become my white whale. Most observations are from Vancouver Island, but they’ve also been seen up around Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast – just a hop from Bowen Island. So why don’t I see them here? Habitat?

After the window died down on Friday it was curiously warm, so I set up some traps, thinking I’d test the fallout theory. Lo and behold, who did I find in the traps the following morning?

Orthosia mys. No harpoon required.

The PNW moths species descriptions sometimes insist that “this species can’t be confused with anything else”, which makes me laugh after I just spent hours poring over page after page of nearly identical species. But in this case it was right. Very distinctive, pretty moth. My initial thought when I saw it in the net was Orthosia pulchella, but only for a moment: the colour was too pink-purple, and the orange legs were all wrong. But the pulchella-transparens-mys species do share a clear similarity. Lighting makes all the difference, though.

Today I saw my second.

These were taken in better light. The colour really comes out.

Of the 9 species of Orthosia in BC, that leaves me with just one: Orthosia ferrigera, only spotted in the far south end of Vancouver Island in spring. I guess I have a new target!

Damn good weekend.