The adult male spongy (gypsy) moth is a very strong and erratic flyer.  He covers a lot of area in a few weeks of life but only during the daylight hours.  He does not feed and his sole intent is to find the females.  He is quite good at this as he can detect even a very small amount of the pheromone that the female emits.  He uses his feathery (plumose) antenna to locate and follow the scent trail.



You are likely to see male spongy (gypsy) moths throughout July and August as they mature at different times.  You can purchase commercially made traps that will lure in the males and catch them.  These have some value as a monitoring device, but you can never catch enough by this method to stop the fertilization of the females in the area.