"What a thousand acres of Silphiums looked like when they tickled the bellies of the buffalo is a question never again to be answered, and perhaps not even asked." -Aldo Leopold
Witch Hazel Dagger Moth Acronicta hamamelis (Guenée, 1852) P-no. 931434.5 Host plant: Found on Ozark witch hazel (Hamamelis vernalis) Date found: 15–16 August, 2026 Location found: Logger’s Lake Recreation Area, Shannon County, MO Notes: The WGNSS Entomology and Nature Photography groups had a great joint overnight trip to Logger’s Lake this past weekend. Obviously, among the several entomofauna groups we focused on, caterpillars were high on our list. The species pictured here was one of our most exciting finds. During my studies of field guides and online sources to determine new caterpillar species to look for, the witch hazel dagger moth caught my attention. Southeastern Missouri has plenty of its obligate host plant afterall. However, after looking on iNaturalist a couple of years ago, I discovered there were no documentations of this species in our state. Checking with the Heitzman catalogue, I found that there was only one recorded observation in Missouri—from 1889! I still kept this species in mind; there were a few documentations in Arkansas and eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and as I mentioned, the host is abundant in Missouri.
During our caterpillar hikes this past weekend, we were delighted to find seven Acronicta hamamelis larvae at various stages. I collected a couple to take home and hopefully rear to adults. The more advanced individual spent the next day feeding on my ozark witch hazel and then changed to its warm pre-pupal coloration. It has since made a cocoon and I hope to see an adult eventually.
Promethea Silkmoth Callosamia promethea (Drury, 1773) P-no. 890079 Host plant: Found on buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) Date found: 28 June, 2026 Location found: Pinewoods Lake Recreation Area, Carter County, MO Notes: I shared this species in an exciting finding and rearing experience last season here and here. To my delightful surprise, the WGNSS Entomology Group found four early instar (L1/L2) caterpillars during a trip to Pinewoods Lake in late June of this year. Since I have a buttonbush in the yard, I decided to bring them home to rear.
Early instar (L1/L2) Callosamia promethea larvae on buttonbush host.
I was getting a bit worried about my buttonbush by the amount of material these four guys were putting away. Nevertheless, I continued to supply them with fresh branches and photographed them during their development.
Mid instar (L3) Callosamia promethea larvae on buttonbush host.
Late instar (L4/L5) Callosamia promethea larvae on buttonbush host.
By mid-July, the caterpillars were fully developed and all four went into cocoons with 2-3 days of each other. From what I could find in literature, it seems that this species is bivoltine (having two broods per season) in our region. However, I was not sure if these guys would eclose this season, or if I would have to wait until the spring to see the moths. If you paid attention to the featured image at the top of this post, I assume you have guessed already.
Adult male Callosamia promethea. Notice the dorsal coloration and patterning that is reminiscent of a dark swallowtail.
The individual that Chris reared last season turned out to be female. After reading about the interesting sexual dimorphism in the adults of this species, I was eager to see and photograph a male. As you would expect, female Promethea moths are nocturnal, do not feed, and are eager to mate and lay eggs. The adult males are just as eager, but are diurnal and with different color and pattern. They typically fly in the afternoons, searching for females with which to mate. Their patterning suggest that they may be Batesian mimics of distasteful day-flying swallowtails, e.g. pipevine swallowtails.
The fourth and final adult Callosamia promethea to eclose turned out to be this gorgeous male.
This season’s cats turned out to be three males and a female, and there is an interesting story to be told here. All four eclosed within seven days. The first two were male. I photographed these and released them in my neighborhood. Early in the morning, a couple of days following the release of the second male, I found a gorgeous female had eclosed and was letting her wings expand in their flight cage. In mid afternoon of that same day, we noticed a male Promethea moth trying to get into the screen porch! I assume, but do not know for certain, that this was one of the males I released previously. I opened the door to the screen porch and he eventually found his way in and headed directly to the cage holding the female. I opened the cage door and he shortly made his way to her.
Mating Callosamia promethea. A sibling love affair?
I am always shocked by how quickly moths want to deposit their eggs following mating. I was busy with something else for a few hours and when I returned, the female was busy depositing eggs on her flight cage. I quickly released her to the neighborhood so hopefully she could deposit her remaining eggs at a more suitable location. We are monitoring the eggs now stuck to the top of the flight cage and will be prepared to move the young cats to the backyard buttonbush when they arrive.
Byssus Skipper Problema byssus (Edwards, 1880) P-no. 77a0186, fam. Hesperiidae Host plant(s): Found on eastern gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides) Date(s) found: 18 July, 2026 Locations found: Powder Valley Conservation Area, St. Louis County, MO Notes: My first grass skipper cat! Byssus skipper caterpillars spend their time in cylindrical shelters typically made from one grass stem. Look for these in higher quality prairie habitats where their host plants are abundant. Due to loss and degradation of grassland habitat, the byssus skipper and most of the grass skippers are at risk. Although the byssus skipper has a wide range, it is not considered common in any state.
Finally, after nearly two decades of wishing to someday visit Magee Marsh, one of the most important stopover sites for migrating songbirds in North America, Dave and I made great use of some vacation time in mid-May of this year to do just that. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie in northwestern Ohio, each spring warblers, vireos, thrushes, tanagers and other neotropical migrants pause here, preparing to cross the open waters of Lake Erie. The marsh’s forests and wetlands provide abundant food and shelter, allowing exhausted birds to replenish the energy reserves needed to continue their journeys to breeding grounds across the northern United States and Canada. Because these birds often congregate in exceptionally high numbers and at close range, Magee Marsh has become internationally renowned among birdwatchers and photographers.
Yellow Warbler
Our visit was timed nicely for being able to not only see many birds, but people as well. Our arrival coincided with the last few days of the “Biggest Week in American Birding” festival. Each day at peak hours we were joined by hundreds, if not thousands of others, trying to get great looks and photos of these magnificent birds. Typically, just the thought of being in a group of naked apes this large would cause me to run in another direction. Surprisingly, the throngs were not nearly as distasteful as I anticipated. Everyone we encountered was kind and helpful. With the flood of affordable cameras and telephoto lenses in the market the past several years, it seems most birders are now photographers as well. I think this went a long way in making everyone understand what our collective goals were and become accommodating to others. Meeting folks from all over the country and helping out one another, no matter their experience level, was a pleasure I didn’t expect.
Blackburnian Warbler
Despite forecasts that suggested otherwise, the weather and skies were mostly cooperative and we were fortunate to have many opportunities to watch tiny warblers, sometimes within arm’s reach. This was something we did not anticipate well enough. We came armed with 400-600mm prime telephotos, with minimum focusing distances in the neighborhood of 10-14 feet. During our first couple of hours hunting, we quickly realized that this was going to cause some missed opportunities. With often being surrounded by others, it was not going to be an option for us to try and backpedal to increase the distance between us and our subjects. In retrospect, bringing our 100-400mm zooms, or a 300mm prime, with considerably shorter minimum focusing distances would have been the much better choice. That’s the price we pay for not doing apt research ahead of time!
Bay-breasted Warbler
I did have a workaround that saved my bacon with the close proximity to the birds. I always carry a 25mm extension tube with my teleconverters in my long-lens bag. By adding this tube between my camera body and the lens, I was able to shave a few precious feet off of the minimum focusing distance without any loss of image quality or autofocusing speed. This meant that I lost the capability to focus on farther subjects, but those were much less frequent opportunities.
Grey Catbird
Overall, this was a memorable trip and one I would gladly do again. Let me show you the stars of the show!
Yellow Warblers were likely the most abundant warbler we encountered, showing up in every available habitat, from the marsh to the forest. We even found a couple of active nests among the buttonbush and dogwood swampy area of the boardwalk.
Chestnut-sided Warblers were damn near as abundant as the Yellow Warblers. It was such a thrill finding these guys in nearly every direction we looked!
Bay-breasted Warblers were surprisingly abundant and often travelling in groups. In the St. Louis area, these are a relatively uncommon spring find, so seeing them in such numbers was a real treat.
Blackburnian Warblers are in my top ten favorite birds. Being able to see so many at eye-level was simply thrilling.
One of my goals of this trip was to finally photograph a male Black-throated Blue Warbler. This is a more eastern bird that rarely makes an appearance in the St. Louis area. At first this goal looked unlikely. We found several females and were about to give up hope until one cooperative male was found.
The Canada Warbler was another high on my list. I did have some photos but I was eager to get better ones. We found around six of these and each was as obstinate as the last. It took a lot of time and patience to get the images seen above.
Wilson’s Warblers were scattered and singing lovely, but finding opportunities for photographs was quite tough.
Striking Magnolia Warblers were fairly common.
Of course, no good swampy habitat is complete without Prothonotary Warblers, including one that decided to build a nest in a rotten railing along the boardwalk!
Black and White Warblers doing their typical gymnastics.
I heard Blackpoll Warblers throughout our time at the marsh, but always in the treetops. We thought we wouldn’t get an opportunity for photos, but during our last hours on our last day, we found a few willing to cooperate.
It was nice watching a pair of Green Herons finishing their nest. Over the four days we spent there, two eggs were deposited.
Finally, a few miscellaneous species worth sharing.
Abbott’s Sphinx Sphecodina abbottii (Swainson, 1821)P-no. 890192, fam. Sphingidae Host plant: Found on wild grape (Vitus sp.) Dates found: 27 June, 2026 Locations found: Pinewoods Lake Recreation Area, Carter County, MO Notes: The ultimate instar presents an eerie, hyper-realistic “eyespot” complete with an iris, pupil, and even a white catchlight reflection. Along with the scale-like pattern, it becomes an apt snake mimic. If a predator comes too close, the caterpillar will lash, squeak, and try to bite its attacker. While this larval form makes a great interpretation of a snake, the diurnal adult phase makes a great bee mimic, including yellow patches on its hind wings. When at rest, the moth folds in its hind wings, leaving it perfectly camouflaged against the bark of a tree.
Eastern tailed-blue Cupido comyntas (Godart, 1824) P-no. 77a0638, fam. Lycaenidae Host plant: Found on wild indigo (Baptisia sp.) Dates found: 20 June, 2026 Locations found: Victoria Glade Conservation Area, Jefferson County, MO Notes: A tiny, beautiful, and common butterfly that is often seen in suburban backyards, the eastern tailed-blue (ETB for short) is not a caterpillar that I have had luck in finding. Finally, on an outing with the WGNSS’ Nature Photography Group in June, I found one of these on a wild indigo plant within the glade. I never expected a lycaenid caterpillar to be such a challenging photo subject. This guy was healthy and mobile, rarely settling down to get the desired photo.
During a WGNSS Entomology Group trip in September of last year, we were thrilled to come across a mating pair of Leiobunum vittatum (eastern harvestmen) at Caney Mountain Conservation Area. In some of the photos below, you can see the male handing off his prenuptial gift to the female. Prenuptial gifts are produced by the males and consist of a mix of essential amino acids. Mating behaviors in harvestmen are complex and vary wildly between taxa. Unfortunately, these guys were among thick scrub that made for difficult photography. I tried my best to capture some of this behavior.
First look at mating eastern harvestmen. Smaller male at back/left.
A closer look shows what I presume to be a prenuptial gift being handed off to the female at front/right.
Another look at mating embrace of Leiobunum vittatum (eastern harvestmen).
Humped Oakworm Moth Symmerista sp. fam. Notodontidae Host plant(s): Found on oak (Quercus sp.) Date(s) and location(s): 18 September, 2025 – Council Bluff Lake, Iron County, MO; 27-September, 2025 – Caney Mountain Conservation Area, Ozark County, MO Notes: Caterpillars of S. canicosta (red-humped oakworm) and S. albifrons (white-headed prominent) are indistinguishable as larvae and are so similar as adults that the only way to distinguish the two is by dissecting the genitalia. Both species are found in Missouri and both feed on the same host plants – beech, chestnut and oaks (any members of the Fagaceae).
Going back to the August 16th WGNSS trip to Council Bluff Lake. After a day (and night) of caterpillar hunting, a couple of us set up light stations to attract nocturnal insects. Here are a few of the moths that I photographed from this evening.
Tufted Bird Dropping Moth Cerma cerintha fam. Noctuidae (Hodges#9062) Host plant: Host plant not recorded but species is known to feed on Rosaceae Family members Date found: 16, Aug,, 2025 Location found: Council Bluff Lake, Iron County, MO Notes: As should be obvious by the common name, the adults of this moth are bird dropping mimics. These caterpillars tunnel into soft wood at the end of the season where they overwinter as a pupa.
A Thousand Acres of Silphiums 
