UV blacklighting
Who would have thought that some caterpillars fluoresce so strongly under UV light that this is actually the easiest way of finding them?
Their glowing silhouettes stick out like sore thumbs among the leaves in the beam of any good blacklight. Walking along brushy field edges, powerline cuts, and young forest all over the northeast can reveal dozens of glowing silhouettes of caterpillars and other insect larvae, with a range of forms and colors that are at least as surprising as butterflies and moths.
And caterpillars aren’t the only stars of this disco show. Gray tree frogs, spiders, mantises, beetles, and even the underwings of Northern Saw-whet Owls’ fluoresce gently under UV.
On these trips, we’ll switch between visible and UV lights to look for sphinx moths, luna moths, cecropia moths, and anything else that glows.
Inquire about this trip