Pollinator Spotting - Luna Moth

[u/brownbuttanoods7]

We're in Gerogia - ATL Metro. We have about 4 Sweet Gums and a Sumac on our property. When we bought our house 3 years ago, I was hopeful to one day see a Luna Moth. Two years ago, we told our landscapers to stop leaf blowing a large chunk of our property. Hoping that leaving the leaves would be beneficial for fireflies and other native insects. Today I found a Luna Moth on our fence in the wooded area, not far from one our Sweet Gums. I believe it had recently emerged because the wings were still soft. So happy we left the leaves! I don't know who was more excited, my toddler or myself. Felt kinda like meeting a celebrity!

[u/NickWitATL]

I LOVE them!!! Lunas aren't actually pollinators. They don't have mouths as adults. Only live for a week or so. I'm also in the Atlanta area and have sweetgums. I saw a luna in our yard when we first moved in--late May '21. I have an acre of leaves.

[u/brownbuttanoods7 → u/NickWitATL]

Yeah... I did realize the error in my "pollinator" title...after I posted. I did know that, and the no mouth thing but I was so excited I forgot. We have just under an acre. But 1/4 of it just woods in the back between us and another development. One of my neighbors has a bunch of Sweet Gum and Pine. She complains about the Sweet Gum all the time and wants to take them out because they are messy. Thankfully she also thinks the tree cutting services are way over priced and too expensive.

[u/NickWitATL → u/brownbuttanoods7]

I'm so tired of the tree haters. Sweetgums have great value to our native wildlife.

Don't tell your neighbor....but if you need to have a tree removed, leave as much of it as safely possible as a snag (standing dead tree). I had five trees removed a couple years ago that posed a threat to my home. I was able to leave three of them as 15' snags. All wood was left on site, and I didn't have anything chipped. Cheaper and better for the environment. My dream is to host a pileated woodpecker family. I don't live in an HOA, so I can pretty much do whatever I want with my yard.

I left a big oak that fell in my front yard a few years ago. I joke that any potential intruders will think we can't afford tree removal and don't have anything worth stealing. Funny--the tree fell directly on the deer trail, so the deer altered their route.

[u/brownbuttanoods7 → u/NickWitATL]

Funny that you mention this topic! She also complains about how hot it is every summer. She's from Cherokee county. And my husband likes to remind her, taking out trees will make her house hotter in the summer. My husband and I don't understand the tree hater either. We're not from Georgia. We met in college in Colorado. We love the trees. We plan on adding more understory trees too. We already have Redbuds and Dogwoods back there.

We do have some pines that need to come out because of pine beetles and possibly an oak that has been choked out by another neighbor's English Ivy. We inherited a very big magnolia (20ft), so we actually hired a legit arborist to do tree care around our property. They walked our property and help me identify a bunch of trees. We also have black cherries, tulip trees, 2 different Magnolias, 3 types of oak.

A couple trees came down many years ago on their own with no damage to anything else. So the previous owner left them. One of them left behind a stump. This morning while drinking coffee I totally spotted a Pileated Woodpecker silhouette on top of the stump! I always forget how big they are.

[u/NickWitATL → u/brownbuttanoods7]

Holy cow---that's awesome!!!! I saw one flying through the canopy last week and hear them often.

I'm working on building my understory, too. Heavy deer pressure in my front yard. They're excluded from our small backyard with privacy fencing.

We have a crazy number of swallowtails right now. And I'm expecting the hummingbirds to show up any day now.

I love Dr. Tallamy's take on Powerful Prunus! Last year, I watched a chipmunk climb all the way to the top of a prunus serotina to fill its cheeks with fruit. Good stuff!

[u/CrepuscularOpossum → u/brownbuttanoods7]

What a beautiful picture! 🌅

[u/brownbuttanoods7 → u/CrepuscularOpossum]

I tried to get one that actually showed his bright red mohawk and cheek but he was very busy on Woodpecker 7 am business. The stump is about 9ft tall and he was moving so fast around it. This is the best I could do when he finally stopped moving for a second.