For those of you who are not night owls, but still want to see moths, do not despair!

In Hong Kong, the start of the cooler dry season period is one of the best times of year to see hummingbird hawkmoths (species in the genus Macroglossum) by day, especially in cloudy weather. or in the hours close to sunrise and sunset. Keep an eye on areas with lots of flowers, as these moths are avid drinkers of nectar - favourites used are Bidens pilosa and especially large shrubs of Duranta erecta.
Identification of these moths with magnificent flying ability, whose wings beat so fast they hum (looking and sounding remarkably like their New World equivalents - the hummingbirds) is not easy. At least 19 species are now known to have been seen in Hong Kong, with a key to these species available at http://hkentsoc.org/bulletin/HKEB2(1)_Macroglossum_kendrick.pdf Since this paper was published in 2010, Macroglossum faro has also been recorded in Hong Kong.

Getting photos of these moths is something of a challenge - the fast movement of the wings usually looks a blur in photos, so hiding tell-tale markings and preventing identification to species. A fast camera flash is usually sufficient to "freeze" the wings, though, so watch where the moths feed, and prepare the shot in advance (pre-focus), because there will not be much time to press the shutter.....

Good luck, and don't forget to post your resulting observations of Hong Kong Macroglossum moths here on the Hong Kong Moth Recording Project, please !

Well, a suitable time to post. Almost exactly one year on from 2,500 observations, there are now just over 5,000 observations. Thank you to everyone for contributing valuable data to this project.

In the same time (i.e. over the last year), an additional 30 people have posted observations. However, almost no extra species added to the project, so we have to work harder to get photos of those HK moth species not yet represented on iNat. There's the challenge for the year ahead....

Still a long way to go though - in the UK, there are 18 MILLION observational records as data for the national moth recording scheme. That works out at an average of about 150,000 observations per county, and the size of Hong Kong is comparable to many of the UK counties. So we need more people out in the field documenting the moths, please . . . . And, I am doing my best to get the Hong Kong moth book (An Illustrated Guide to the Moths of Hong Kong) published in 2016. Please understand that this is a BIG project, with no external funding and done entirely in my own time. What's coming - a "summary" of some 2,400 species, many (nearly 1000 species) illustrated in live habitus photos, some life history information (upwards of 400 species with larval stage photos), nearly 100 plates of moth specimens, covering almost all the known HK species, arranged in a 3 volume (in slip cover) A4 format folio, vol 1 with introduction and micro-moths, vol 2 covering the macro-moths and vol 3 has the plates, checklist and other appendices and index. Takes a lot of preparing to ensure taxonomic accuracy, minimal (or no) misidentifications, getting distribution and status correctly evaluated...... (and more)....
All the iNat data has helped refine the first edition of IGMHK, and will thus assist with future conservation efforts for moths in HK (and probably further afield) thereafter....

getting the ball rolling on a guide to the commonest moths found in Hong Kong.
Work in progress.

Will add more descriptions, phenology, similar species info and more as and when time allows., but my main "voluntary" focus remains getting the HK moth book finished.