Scarborough, Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada

I always love nature and enjoy a variety of hobbies and interests including nature photography. I discovered the joy of moth photograghy in the summer of 2005. I purchased an UV light from BioQuip a year later and set it up between two mature pear trees in my backyard for attracting moths in the neighbouring area. Interesting looking moths are potted first, then stored in the fridge for picture taking on the next day. I always release the moths after the photo sessions (except gypsy moths and few other unlucky ones that failed to survive the ordeal).

In July 2008, I helped confirm the existence of an European species "Carpatolechia fugitivella" in Ontario by catching specimens in my own backyard and submitting them to All-Leps for barcoding purposes. Photographs of this species are posted at MPG under a newly assigned Hodges # 1874.2.

I maintain a list of those moths that can be positively and/or reasonably identified, so far the total number has grown to 753 species at the end of 2016 mothing season. Some of my moth photos are posted at MPG. My hobby of photographing various moths in own back yard took an downward spiral at the end of mothing season in 2014, as I was positively diagnosed of having Parkinson's disease (Pd) in the fall of 2014. Since then, my moth photo submissions had become sporadic as I could not maintain a regular schedule and/or a fixed routine, to continue setting up lighting equipment, etc. due to various physical impairments caused by Pd.

Nowadays, I may post a few photos in Bugguide every four to five months which is entirely hinged on the condition of my health, but inevitably, the quality of my photograghs would go down hill at the same pace of my physical deterioration which I could do nothing to stop this terrible disease from progressing. But I have committed to myself that I will try with all my remaining strength and determination to keep the moth photo contributions going as long as possible.....

Bythe way, All-Leps, Microleps and BugGuide are the websites which oftentimes I relied upon for moth identification. Many thanks to Bob Patterson, Don Lafontaine, Jean-François Landry, Vazrick Nazari and SangMi Lee for their assistance in providing invaluable info on moth identification over the years.

JL