About the Project
The North Carolina Under-reported County Mothing Project (NCUCMP), administered by Executive Director Lior Carlson of Backyard Butterflies, is a multi-year citizen science survey of moths in those counties identified as under-reported based upon data publicly available from the Moths of North Carolina website. The definition of an under-reported county is having less than 100 species of moths.
County map created July 2022
Project Goals
Priority is given to surveying those counties under 10 species (red on map) followed by counties with under 20 species (orange on map).
As time and funding permits, counties with under 100 species (yellow on map) will be surveyed or re-surveyed to reach 100 species.
Project Funding
At this time the project is fully funded by Backyard Butterflies. Additional sources of funding through grants or designated donations will be sought to sustain the project to completion.
Survey Methods & Equipment
Observers
2022: Lior Carlson and David George
Survey Sites
Surveys are conducted on the property of AirBnB rentals that are deemed to have desired habitat for moths.
Survey Duration
Surveys are conducted over two consecutive nights during the summer to early fall.
Equipment Used
A combination of a 40 Watt UV light and 160 Watt mercury vapor light. No baiting or bucket traps were used. A pheromone trap was used at Caswell County.
A Nikon D7500 camera with a Sigma 105 mm macro lens and an iPhone are used to photograph moths.
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