Pittsfield — “We have a carpet. We definitely have a carpet.” “Ooh, tiny little white shiny thing right there, did we get that?” “A new one.
Is that what I think it is?” A dozen or so people huddled around a lighted sheet in the darkness, engaged in the increasingly popular activity known as mothing. “It’s a gray,” explains Matthew Rymkiewicz, who was leading the moth lightsheeting demo, part of the 15th annual Berkshire BioBlitz, a biodiversity day where scientists and participants count as many species of everything in a 24-hour period as they can. “So there’s a group of moths known as grays that have really intricate patterns that, unfortunately, are all different shades of gray.
” “They’re exquisite, but really tough to get to the bottom of,” he says. The self-described moth enthusiasts tallied a grass moth, a large yellow underwing, a leafhopper, a mint-loving pyrausta. At the same time, Rene Wendell of the Hoffman Bird Club was leading an Owl Prowl around the campus of Berkshire Community College, where the BioBlitz was held this year.
The event, organized by Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT) and Nature Academy of the Berkshires, rotates locations. “They pick different sites for the potential for biodiversity,” said BCC Professor Tom Tyning, who led the reptile and amphibian walk on Saturday. Why hold a BioBlitz? “To celebrate the breadth and beauty of biodiversity in the Berkshires,” says Brittany Ebeling of BEAT, “and .