I guess it's human nature to look for harbingers of spring. The first baseball cards appearing in the dime store, or pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training. The first cardinal, or Song Sparrow tuning up. Spring Peepers singing. Phoebe Day.
These days, the first Bicolored Woodgrain is one of my spring indicators, even though most of the other indicators listed above have happened by the time the woodgrain shows up. It was one of the first moths I ever identified (before I had a camera to help me make moth identification a process that could potentially take years). I seem to recall a moth perched on the screen looking out on my deck, and me flipping through the plates in Covell's field guide to moths. Luckily, the Bicolored Woodgrain has actual field marks, most prominently that pale slash on the trailing edge of the forewing. Ever since then, I've looked for the Bicolored Woodgrain in late April, and have yet to be disappointed.
