Audubon presentation asks “What about moths?”

Mission Mountain Audubon's next community program asks, “What about moths?,” at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 21 in the Polson Library Meeting Room.

Mat Seidensticker will share his moth-related research on MPG Ranch and his ground-breaking Montana Moth Project. He’ll discuss moth natural history and identification, the similarities between “mothing” and “birding,” and some of the challenges moths face.

For many of us, moths are simply dull, brown insects that flutter around porch lights on hot summer nights, or pests that cause damage to vegetation and clothes. Indeed, some moths are dull, and a small percentage are considered pests.

However, Seidensticker maintains that moths are also very diverse, outnumber butterflies nine to one, and exhibit myriad sizes, shapes, colors and wing patterns. They are also ubiquitous herbivores, pollinators and prey, serving as effective bio-indicators of environmental health in terrestrial ecosystems.

Seidensticker is a wildlife researcher and executive director of Northern Rockies Research & Educational Services (NRRES). His broad interests encompass wildlife research and natural history, and he holds degrees in Wildlife Biology and Environmental Studies from the University of Montana.

Seidensticker’s passion for moths and other insects grew out of his extensive field experience studying owls and other nocturnal birds with the Owl Research Institute in Charlo and MPG Ranch near Florence. This passion eventually led him to establish Northern Rockies Research and Educational Services in 2019 to advance scientific research and monitoring of moths and other insects.

The presentation is free and open to the public.