Hairstreak butterfly on milkweed
Butterflies…the gateway bug
Many people know us as the butterfly people, and that’s not a bad thing. We consider butterflies to be our gateway bug, since they were the first insects to spark our imagination and move us from being curious to being serious about studying nature. But now we continue to find excitement in so many different things hidden in our beautiful wildlife garden. If you just walk through the woods (or your own backyard) without really slowing down to see the details you will miss a world within a world. We were asked this week in an interview to describe something we learned about nature lately. Our reply was simply this, “The more we learn about nature, the more we realize that the things we don’t know far outweigh what we do know!”
Luna moth, a giant silk moth
Natural Bridge State Park
Last month we participated in the first caterpillar day event at the Natural Bridge State Park in Kentucky. We spent the day with our butterfly friend Betty Hall and her husband and made some new friends as well. We had a ton of fun going on a hike with the park naturalists to find small moth caterpillars that we had not seen in our own neck of the woods. We’ve been raising the large silk moths for years, but we don’t have much experience with the smaller more common moths.
stinging rose slug caterpillars
Marvelous moth caterpillars
Seeing first-hand the incredible variety of shapes and colors gave us a real appreciation for moth caterpillars. We were especially impressed with the stinging rose slugs. We know they have a weird name, but just look at those colors. By the way, you don’t want to handle one of these handsome fellows since they can give you a nasty sting. We’ve seen pictures of these particular caterpillars in field guides and spent a good deal of time searching for them on wild roses, with no luck. But we learned on our hike to look for them underneath the leaves of red bud trees. Wow!
monkey slug caterpillar
Funny monkey slug
We also got to see an elusive monkey slug caterpillar, the immature stage of a hag moth. Did you know that the monkey slug can drop off some of its appendages if it feels threatened? This caterpillar is also capable of stinging you, so look but don’t touch.
white flannel moth stinging caterpillar
We also got to see a white flannel moth caterpillar (again, beware of their poison-filled stinging hairs). By looking at this colorful caterpillar you would not imagine that a plain white moth would be the final result of its life cycle. So now that you’ve heard about our adventure, grab your camera and go have some of you own. Maybe we will see you out there! Finding caterpillars can be fun and educational. Remember you are never too old to learn and you will never know it all.
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Judy, these are amazing photos! You’re so right, we pay so much attention to the butterflies and very little attention to their cousins the moths. But your photos have shown us how much beauty is to be found among these caterpillars. I need to learn more about the moths. Thanks for inspiring me
Carole Sevilla Brown recently posted..Wildlife Gardeners Spin the Cycle of Life
Thank you Carole. It seems there is no end to the critters we can learn about in our own backyards!
Love moths…love their caterpillars. I’ve never heard of that monkey slug. He certainly is a “looker”. Insects are a passion with me. Thanks for sharing some I wasn’t familiar with.
Great information!
Loret T. Setters recently posted..New Garden Visitor?
We are so amazed at the diversity of colors and designs on the caterpillars, even when the adult moths can be so drab-looking.
Judy I have become more fascinated by the insects in the garden this year and hope to notice more moth caterpillars. I wanted to let you know that I review one book a month on my blog that deals with gardening and I chose your second book, The Secret Lives of Backyard Bugs…I also will review your first book next month as I absolutely love both…looking forward to getting Nature’s Notes. Great post!
Donna Donabella recently posted..A Bloom Day Anniversary
Awesome! Thank you Donna, we look forward to reading your reviews!
The first one is Monday. October’s is set for the 18th.
Donna Donabella recently posted..A Bloom Day Anniversary