Join or Create a National Moth Week Event

We all know how cool moths are, from their night time wanderings as pollinators to their special ability to avoid bats, and their cute fuzzy faces. In fact, there are at least 40 reasons you should love moths!

Now you can celebrate moths along with people from all over the planet by joining National Moth Week. This years theme is micro moths, so pull out your magnifying glass!

National Moth Week is a project of the Friends of the East Brunswick Environmental Commission, a 501c3 nonprofit organization registered in New Jersey. Donations are tax-deductible in the US. Now, annually registered events occur in all 50 states and extend to over 90 countries across every continent except Antarctica, including numerous island nations.

You can join an event or just setup a light in your back yard and see what shows up. This year it is July 19-27, 2025.

Looking for moths can be as easy as leaving your porch light on and checking what is attracted to the light, or as advanced as custom setups with specialized lights and baits. The “specialized bait” is just some fermented sugar and fruit placed near the lights to attract them. To maximize your moth viewing experience, setup black lights or mercury vapor lamps an hour before dusk.

If you’re looking for other insect-based citizen science opportunities you can find them for almost any type of insect, and if not you can start your own. If you want to identify the moths you are seeing, join National Moth Week on iNaturalist where you can submit your photo and have others help you identify what you are seeing and help others identify them too!