There are so many of these familiar little guys around this year, we both wondered what was going on. We usually see a couple each fall in the garage around the wood pile but this year they seem to be everywhere. This Woolly Bear caterpillar is usually a favourite of all the caterpillars we get to see up close; I guess it is its fuzzy look and cozy name that helps. Yes, cuteness counts even in the insect world. I hate how they seem to have this spell of wandering before bedding down to hibernate for the winter. I often see them trying to cross the road and really what are the chances they will make it.
I think I've figured out why we seem to have more of these this year. I just read that they enjoy munching sunflower plants and this is the first year we grew a stand of sunflowers along the driveway fence. Not such a mystery after all.
This little guy is the Milkweed Tiger Moth in caterpillar form and here it is sitting on a milkweed leaf. It seems milkweed is host to many caterpillars not just the beautiful Monarchs. Unlike the beauty of the Monarch though, this fellow will become a very drab, dark gray moth as an adult. I don't know a lot about them but I know he will soon spin a cocoon of silk and emerge in the spring, unlike the Woolly Bear who hibernates all winter and then spins a cocoon in the spring.
It seems every time I walk around the property, nature has something else to show me. I just love that about living here.
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