Frithjof Skibbe; Oxford Scientific Films 



Some Like It Cold 



While most moths are summertime creatures, 

 a few find that flying in winter is safer 



by Bemd Heinrich 



In this world of infinite moments, most 

 are soon forgotten. But some, because of 

 the startling images they produce, are kept 

 forever. I will never forget one that oc- 

 curred in the woods of western Maine on 

 an early November evening ten years ago. 

 The leaves had fallen from the trees, the 

 last purple New England asters had fin- 

 ished blooming, and even the witch 

 hazel's yellow flowers were finally near 

 their end on leafless branches. The mi- 

 grant birds had left, and the little brown 

 bats no longer fluttered about the forest 

 clearings. A first snow flurry had already 

 matted the brown leaves, but a melt had 

 uncovered them. 



I was sitting on the trunk of a large, 

 wind-felled sugar maple in a hardwood 

 forest, hoping to see a deer in the ap- 

 proaching dusk. The sun was going down 



in a blaze of color, and frost was starting its 

 bite. But what I saw wasn't stalking among 

 flie slowly darkening tree trunks. It was sit- 

 ting right beside me on the log, shaking vi- 

 olently. No more than an inch long and 

 covered in sienna-brown fur, it was a shiv- 

 ering owlet moth. 



The Uttle moth's antennae were partly 

 extended, no longer tucked neatly along its 

 sides under the wings, as they normally 

 are when the insect is at rest. Its legs 

 braced it against die bark, and its wings vi- 

 brated so rapidly that they were a blur. 

 After shivering for two or three minutes 

 more, the moth quickly wiped its antennae 

 with its front legs and launched itself into 

 the air, fluttering off into the night. 



But why was an owlet moth still active 

 at the threshold of winter? Until then, I had 

 only seen moths in summer. The warmer 



On wann wintei days in Men England Lithophane patefacta ?noths emerge 

 from under leaf litter, above, where they hibernate during the coldest weather. 

 Right: The thick coat of fur covering the thorax of the Old World winter moth 

 Eupsilia transversa Itelps it conserve heat inflight 



Bernd Heinrich 



42 Natural History 2/94 



