I had a really fun time photographing a Monarch Caterpillar…I am easy to entertain!
We have some Common Milkweed along the back driveway.
They eat Milkweed and they poop until they grow large enough to go through the pupa/chrysalis stage. This one might be a really lucky one that will migrate and live someplace warm for the winter!
I was happy to see one Caterpillar…this is the first one I have seen this year. Years ago we had many many Monarch Caterpillars. We used to sell several varieties of Milkweed and would always ask with or without? Some of the high heeled fancy matchy matchy ladies would say without what ? …CATARPILLARS of course…turns out they didn’t want any bugs on their Milkweed (never fear I thought to myself the “bugs” will find them! )…other ladies in gardening hats sporting sensible shoes and dirty fingernails would say “Yes could I have more than one?” Milkweed is the only food source for the Monarch Caterpillar.
Those are some really good pictures. I have seen more monarchs this year than in the past. They are such beautiful creatures. I can just see those fancy dressed ladies freaking about about the caterpillars. Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful weekend.
ReplyDeleteI like caterpillars, too. I would have been one of the second set of ladies. :-)
ReplyDeleteLove your story about the ladies and the caterpillars. We had one caterpillar on our Butterfly Weed but we didn't take it off. It has disappeared. I hope it is hiding in a chrysalis somewhere. One year we brought two caterpillars in and Tom took photos of the different stages. Both emerged successfully. A wonderful experience. Have you read The Butterfly's Daughter by Mary Alice Monroe? It is fiction but the life cycle of the monarchs and their flight to Mexico are an important part of the story.
ReplyDeleteGuess you answered my question. If Milkweed is their only source of food then that is not the same caterpillar that ate my Dill. I left them alone. They were fun to watch and I knew they would turn into something beautiful. Those on the Dill looked a lot like yours.
ReplyDeleteI have several that "visit" me at the Park...!!
ReplyDeleteFantastic ;pictures.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what milkweed is, but those are astonishingly good photos!
ReplyDeleteI love to see the Milkweed blooms and the seeds when they burst from the drying pods: the Monarchs are a bonus!
ReplyDeleteThat's a beautiful caterpillar and you got some great shots of it!
ReplyDeleteMany folks here in Texas are trying to repopulate the milkweed for the Monarchs.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos, I would take mine "with" as well :))
ReplyDeleteThe more the better!
ReplyDeleteThese are fun photos. We are hot again here in GA. I hope you guys will have a nice weekend. Hi to Chance!
ReplyDeleteI am seeing a lot of milkweed along the highways. They aren't cutting it all back like they use to. I have a couple of the monarchs that hang around. I would still like to get some form of milkweed going in the yard back in the orchard area. Maybe that will be a winter project from seed catalogs. It is too hot today to go pick apples let alone shoot photos. Great shots of the stripped guys.
ReplyDeleteSo happy to see that caterpillar! I plan on planting lots of milkweed when I get up North. One year on the farm we had them "stop over" on their way South and they covered many trees....there must have been 1,000's of them....a sight my children and I will never forget. I only wish I had had a camera. My kids still talk about it to this day and they were young then. Today they are in serious trouble.
ReplyDeleteI suppose some of the monarch's problems stem from their limited food source.
ReplyDeleteI'm easily entertained also! We keep all our milkweed, just for this purpose!
ReplyDeleteLinda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
I've never seen a Monarch caterpillar but that may be because we don't have Common Milkweed around here ( I think). Wish we did though. They are such beautiful butterflies.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have common milkweed around here, so i guess that's why we don't have any Monarchs. Great photos.
ReplyDeleteMy native milkweed is always dead and gone before they ever show up. Wonder if there's another variety I should add in.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid there was a field full of milkweed a block from our house and there were thousands of monarchs that stopped there during migration and we had lots of caterpillars, too. Then they dug up the field and built the senior high and that was that. I always wondered if they found other places to stop along their way. There's nothing like lying in a prickly, dry field with thousands and thousands of butterflies over your head. You could bend your knees and they'd land there or raise your arms to the sky and they'd land on your fingertips. Once in a while one would come all the way down and land on my face with its delicate feet. These small yellow butterflies always seemed to travel with the monarchs. What a sight. Like the breath of God. :)
ReplyDeleteThose are really nice photos of the caterpillars. And I definitely would have been in the "with" camp at your greenhouse!
ReplyDelete