A Fledgling's Favourite Food
The importance of moths, and their caterpillars, to thriving bird populations
This is the eighth post in my series exploring the species featured in my
2024 calendar, Wildlife of East Otago.
August’s image features the magpie moth feeding, somewhat controversially1, on a strikingly yellow lupin growing at Moeraki (a scenic tourist attraction famous for its boulders). I spent a day at Moeraki with my camera last summer and had the opportunity to see several mōkarakara, or magpie moths (Nyctemera annulata) feeding and basking.
I’ve written about them before, and have become rather enamoured by these daytime fliers. They are large (by moth standards, anyway) and really quite beautiful. It’s fortuitous that they are today’s topic as just last weekend I bought some cineraria, a mōkarakara food plant2, when I visited the Dunedin Botanic Gardens - and they just happened to have some for sale!
Magpie moths are very easy to find food plants for!🏵 As the Moths & Butterflies NZ website says, the caterpillars will feed on: “Cineraria, groundsel, ragwort, and other plants in the Senecio family. There are 19 native Senecio species.”
They are a good reminder that our moths deserve just as much attention as our butterflies! I am challenging myself to photograph the moths I see in my garden so I can identify them (you can see my observations on iNaturalist). By doing so, I’ve discovered that they can be just as pretty as butterflies, though generally less colourful, and I always feel a little bit chuffed when I come across one that is only found here in Aotearoa.
But as well as appreciating them for their own sake, moths play an essential part in our garden ecosystems.
I’ve been devouring the work of Douglas Tallamy, an American entomologist & conservationist with wonderful optimism. While research specific to Aotearoa is scant, he talks about the importance of moths - and particularly moth caterpillars - for feeding birds. “Caterpillars are rich in protein, essential fats, and nutrients necessary for the rapid growth and energy demands of young birds.”3
It feels a bit weird saying that you should encourage moths in your garden… just so they can be eaten by birds!🐣 However, combining their high nutrition with a soft body that can be easily stuffed down a chick’s beak makes them essential for the growing bird. For a New Zealand perspective, a study on the shining cuckoo found they eat mainly beetles and caterpillars - and a whopping third of those caterpillars were actually mōkarakara.
Their pupa usually overwinter underground or in loose soil, particularly amongst the soft dirt of decomposing leaf litter.4 So, it’s just another reason not to tidy up too quickly! We rake leaves that fall on our driveway and some areas of our lawn, and leave all the rest wherever they land. If you have standalone trees in your lawn, you could create beds around them for the leaf litter to land and remain - one less job when autumn comes around!
Thanks so much for reading. I hope you get a chance to go outside and notice the moths & butterflies in your garden as the seasons change.
Zenobia🐛
If you’d like to support my mahi & receive member-only posts & specials, consider joining with a monthly or annual subscription.
If you would like to support The Dwindle River Garden with a small one-off donation, tap the button below.
Tree lupin and Russell lupin are classified as environmental weeds, but also encourage tourism in the South Island as people come to photograph them during flowering periods.
https://www.nzbutterflies.org.nz/species-info/magpie-moth/
https://coastalbg.uga.edu/2023/07/doug-tallamys-impact-caterpillars-and-bird-diversity/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupa