a li'l bit of nature - just for fun!

cameragirl21 wrote: so as many of you know, i'm very into butterfly gardening and i can always find butterflies, and by extension caterpillars in my yard. today i saw many butterflies flitting around and courting, like they are about to mate.
i always have tons of caterpillars in my various larval plants but today i noticed a whole bunch so i thought i'd share, hopefully it will get everyone excited for warmer weather to come!
ok, so here is a bunch of baby caterpillars, these are called Pipevine Swallowtails, as babies, they huddle together and as they travel from leaf to leaf, they stick together. as they get bigger, the group splits up, first in tiny sets of 2 and 3 caterpillars (or sometimes more) and then each one goes off as a solitary. these little guys are actually about a week old.

now here is what they look like as they get bigger. as you see they are still sticking together in smaller groups but by this size, they are usually solitaries. i was inspired to take their pic today just because it's so unusual for them to stick together at this size.

this particular breed's caterpillar is usually a much deeper shade of red, but i think winter caterpillars are not as colorful as summer and spring caterpillars, plus these guys were in the shade and i didn't use flash or any fancy equipment (other than my fancy camera ) so i figured i'd post a pic i took sometime back of this same breed of caterpillar...see, this one is even smaller than the others and it's already a solitary.

and here is what the butterfly that this type of caterpillar becomes looks like.

and here is the flower of the vine the caterpillars eat, it's called Dutchman's Pipe, or more commonly called Pipevine. i love the colors and pattern, it reminds of fabric that would make a renaissance era dress. it's actually a pipe and the pollen is inside. this plant is pollenated by gnats so it's supposed to smell like somthing is rotting deep inside the pipe, so as to attract the gnats. i can't smell it and i do have a pretty strong sense of smell but then again, i never stuck my nose deep inside there.

gr33n3y3z replied: never knew that
we only have those black and gold maybe more of an orange butterflys here quite dull lol

cameragirl21 replied: you mean Monarchs, Lisa?
like this?

i love those too, and have a soft spot in my heart for them because that above pic is the first pic i ever got published.
check out their caterpillar, very pretty:

MoonMama replied: OHHHHHHHHHHHHH JENNIFER!!!!! I LOVE these photo's, I LOVE butterflies more then anything! I actually collect butterfly things and I go to our butterfly pavilion (sp) many times each spring/summer. Thanks so much for posting these.

Calimama replied: You know, I never knew caterpillars were so cute. In my hometown this guy opened a butterfly "museum". Basically it was a huge green house/tent thing and you could walk through and the butterfly's would fly around, land on you, etc. It was the prettiest thing I have ever seen. When he died he left it to his kids and they shut it down.

CantWait replied: Love the butterfly pic, love the flower pic, but caterpillars gross me out....
TFS anyway.

Our Lil' Family replied:
ME TOO!

cameragirl21 replied: haha, check it out--they ate that big leaf (and other leaves) but all stuck together! sorry to those of you who are grossed out by caterpillars, i just think these guys are soooooo cool.

Crystalina replied: Ok, am I the only one suddenly itchy?

As always Jennifer, great pics. The little thingys are very pretty when they are on camera. I love nature and caterpillers but not so much IRL.

MoonMama replied:
Amazing aren't they?

cameragirl21 replied:
thanks, C.
i LOVE caterpillars, used to collect them when i was little and keep them in little jars. i didn't realize back then that each species only eats certain plants...they'd rather starve than just eat any leaves...and then i wondered why they didn't live to turn into butterflies.
you should see how big these guys get right before they pupate...they literally are like the length of one of your fingers, and i let them crawl all over me, talk about itchy.

cameragirl21 replied:
they are amazing! there are actually four in the picture, they are all around the stalk, perfectly symmetrical and all.

gr33n3y3z replied: yes Monarchs would be the one lol

We dont have very many of other types here lets face it we have beach and water and marsh that sorrounds us and dune grass

kimberley replied: i thought i was the only weirdo who collected caterpillars as a kid
mine never turned into butterflies either

great pics!

CantWait replied:
As much as they gross me out now, I collected them when I was younger also. They would always build the caccoon, but never got past that stage.

Jennifer as much as that picture gives me the heebie jeebies, it's cool also, it looks like a bud on a flower until you look more closely.

Nina J replied: It gives me the creeps, lol, my spine goes all tingly. But they're nice pictures, even thought they're creepy.