Whatever Happened to that Monarch Caterpillar?

Some of you may recall we had a Monarch Caterpillar in our garden a few weeks back. We watched over him for a few days and then he disappeared. Not truly knowing what happened to him, we told ourselves he crawled off somewhere to go into the next phase which is the pupa and from there to hopefully morph into a butterfly a few weeks later. A friend on social media told us that they will do this, looking for a safer place to do this. So having someone actually tell us that gave us hope that this was actually happening.

Over the next few weeks I always kept a look out in the garden. Numerous times I squatted down, peering into the many plants near the swamp milkweed where it fed as a caterpillar. Never did I spot the pupa.

Last Thursday while out puttering in the yard, my eyes finally caught something. It was orange and black. It was moving. It was about 2 feet from the swamp milkweed plant. Holy! It was the Monarch emerging as a butterfly!

Look at the size of the abdomen here. That was something I had never seen before.

I texted Angie and told her the news. I had wished she was home to see this with me.

My first sighting to this miracle of nature was about 11 am.

I went about my morning, doing the things I must do before going to work. I checked on the butterfly a few times throughout.

I also did some Google researching to see how long this process could take until it would fly away. Approximately 2 hours until the wings hardened enough.

My last check was at 12:30 pm. The Monarch was gone. I half wished I delayed my shower to witness it fly off but that was the chance I took. A quick crappy shot of the spot, you can see the pupa in the blurry section. I'm still amazed at how well it blended in with the salvias. I know I peered through this spot more than a couple times since it disappeared.

This has never happened before in our backyard. It was a little more thrilling for us since our Cecropia moth never emerged from last year. Having this all happen naturally made for a really memorable experience (no disrespect to those who raise caterpillars in enclosures). It also inspires us to do more with our developing pollinator garden.

As I said in my last blog, it certainly has been the year for caterpillars.

Year of the Caterpillars

I don't know what it is this year with all the caterpillars we are finding in the garden; but it sure is something. We've certainly never experienced this before. Angie got the SEEK app installed on her phone and it's really helped us ID these creatures.

Here is what we've seen in the last couple weeks. I'm going to borrow a moth image for each caterpillar to share so you can see what they may turn into if they make it to that stage. Now in no particular order...

Banded Tussock Moth caterpillar

After our little photo shoot inside and ID'ing, I put him back outside in the area where I found him. Good luck little one!

I hope to spot one as an actual moth in the near future. I can pretend it was this caterpillar, right?

Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillars. There is easily 75+ of them on our one swamp milkweed plant.

They are so small but so colorful.

Almost a week later, they are still out there. My how they have developed.

With how many Milkweed Tussock moth caterpillars we have, we should see a few of them as actual moths.

What we believe may be a Saddled Prominent.

If I saw this, I don't think I would know how to ID it without that app. There are so many moth species out there.

I found one very similar to this caterpillar below in my shed a couple weeks ago. I was rather preoccupied with something else and moved him to safety since he was where I was working. It was a small, fuzzy, yellow caterpillar that tapered down at the back end. If I'm correct, it was a Definite Tussock Moth caterpillar. I borrowed this image from a search of fuzzy yellow caterpillars in Ontario.

Seeing photos of the Definite Tussock moth, I am fairly confident that is it. There are a few of these nightly now, or what looks like this, on the orange halves we have out for the Baltimore Orioles.

Then there was this odd looking one hanging from another tree out back. He was just out of reach for me to bring inside for a better photograph, and the opportunity to ID. A mystery but with so many others we've been able to ID, I can live letting this one get away. I used my headlamp on him as the camera flash turned him completely white.

And of course let's not forget the Monarch Butterfly caterpillar who was blog worthy.

We've been asked what became of the Monarch caterpillar. He disappeared and we like to think he went deeper into our garden to go through the next stages of his life. I keep an eye out for him, be it the cocoon or a fresh new Monarch. We shall see.

Some people understand why Angie and I feel no need to leave the backyard during the summer months. Perhaps a few more will get it after reading this blog?

Of course after I publish this, what appears on the kitchen window screen but another caterpillar! I took a couple photos of him.

I then coaxed him onto a small stick to get him off the screen as that's no place for a caterpillar to hang out, and nothing to eat.

I then moved him to the nearest tree and off he went. I'm leaning towards another Banded Tussock but something looks a little different. We found that with the SEEK app, that sometimes it doesn't pick up the insects but the plant that it is on. So taking photos and loading them onto the computer screen, having blown the photos up to just the insect does help with ID'ing. We shall see.

Last Light

One of my favourite times of the day to be with the wild ones is at last light. Some call it "the golden hour". Whatever the term is, it's a magical moment. Here is some of what I saw with last light... last night.

Some creatures are getting their last feed for the day. The Cardinals are always the last birds out and our resident male we call "papa" is always busy taking care of his kids at this time of year.

That last hour seems to be peak time for us with Hummingbirds. There's been a couple young birds or females in the Bee Balm this past weekend. This part of the garden takes in that last hour of light. At least two males are visiting our feeders as well.

A lone young Raccoon rises early and makes an appearance in the backyard. Angie has named him "Albert".

The young male Downy Woodpecker continues to use this nest box to roost in. The sun shines down from the back, making it very difficult to get a decent photograph.

Directly across from the Downy's house is one of our Owl boxes that the Squirrels have once again taken over. They did not use the box to nest in this summer and it's been empty since April. I cleaned it out a couple weeks ago. Last night I noticed 3 of them go into it. There was a moment when all of them had their heads sticking out but I did not have my camera with me. I go get it and of course only one stayed in place. The Downy had tucked himself in his box when I took this photo but after I went back to the house, I could see both animals with their heads peeking out again. It was a cute and comical sight. Maybe they were saying "goodnight" to each other?

Since I work an afternoon shift, I only get to see the last light at home on Saturday and Sunday. I wonder if my younger self would have believed that I would be more excited about being home on the weekends, watching the wildlife in the evening and not prepping for another night of partying?

Normally I stroll the backyard after work around 11 pm. I will try to be more courteous to these sleeping creatures that are calling our backyard home, not shining my head lamp to their houses and being a little more quiet.

Sad News of One of Our Falcons

I am saddened to report that one of this year's Etobicoke Peregrine Falcon kids is no longer with us.

Bliss, who is daughter to Lucky and Darcy, and sister to Avro, Aries and Griffon (r.i.p.).

Here she is flying with Avro (blue tape) and Aries (yellow tape).

Bliss was doing great all this time. She was the only one of the kids who stayed high above the streets and never needed rescuing during fledge watch, and the weeks beyond. I only had views of Bliss in my binoculars high atop the buildings.

This past Saturday, late in the day I might add, a message was sent to the Canadian Peregrine Foundation's Facebook page. They told of a Falcon on the ground in the Distillery District, which is over on the east side of Toronto. They shared some disturbing photos showing a bad injury to the bird's face, a major fracture to it's beak. They sent the banding information which was Z 29. From that we knew it was Bliss.

A couple watchers dropped everything and immediately headed out to the area she was seen with the last light of Saturday evening. No sign of her. First light on Sunday the search continued. Again, no sign.

We learned late Sunday evening she was found along the railway tracks north of the reported sight by some workers. They called Toronto Animal Services who came and got her. They then took her to the Toronto Wildlife Centre.

Indeed Bliss' beak was badly fractured. It had been for a few days. I'm not sure if there were any other injuries but there may have been. Obviously Bliss collided with something like a car or structure to have her beak break. She was probably hunting. Perhaps very hungry and did a desperate dive at something. I choose not to use the word "careless" because she was only 4 months old.

We learned that her blood protein level was 0.2. I was told that this is the lowest ever recorded for any wild animal to have come into Toronto Wildlife. Bliss was starving. She was emaciated. Her body was feeding off itself to stay alive. Her organs were slowly shutting down. To sum it up, Bliss was suffering. She was euthanized, there was no other option. She is at peace now.

We, those who have watched over her and her siblings, are very sad about this. We know this happens a lot with the young Falcons. It happens a lot with all the animal species out there as the young go out on their own and try to survive. We know that aside from the actual fledge watch that there is nothing in our control with any of these birds. We can still love them in a unique way, being their silent baby sitters for many days during those first flights and even in the weeks after. We can be sad at the loss of one. We will always hold out hope for the others still out there.

Rest in peace Bliss. or as some say "Fly free". Your struggle is over.

The photos were taken by friends and fellow watchers Lucie and Roger, used with permission. I never took one of Bliss as anytime I saw her she was on the same perch atop the condo just east of the nest site.

Lucie and I worked shifts at the site during the watch. She saw a food transfer between Bliss and dad Lucky. You can see how much larger a female bird of prey can be compared to the male, even at this young age.

Baby Bliss. Awwwww!

There is some good news to come from this, Lucie positively ID'd Avro on site Sunday. We hope Aries is still out there too. But let's just keep this about Bliss.

Here's a couple other recent Peregrine blogs of mine if you missed them. One blog. Two blog.

Garden Surprise

We had a surprise in our garden over the August long weekend. While I was out back filling bird baths and basins, watering the plants, I happened to spot a Monarch caterpillar. A first for us here at home!

Here it is, just a little wet from the watering. Sorry lil dude.

Angie was in the shower and I ran to the bathroom window to inform her of the discovery. She was as excited as me.

A better photo of a drier caterpillar.

It was on August 4th when I found him. He was about an inch and a half in length and has grown a fair amount in the last 3 days. I believe he's in this stage for roughly 2 weeks. He's an eating machine right now. Yes, that's his feces on the leaf. How many days are left before he goes into the crysalis stage?

As everyone knows our backyard is full of birds and critters. Who might want to chow down on this caterpillar? Nothing really stands out, but in the wild world it seems everything eats everything in order to survive. There are times I see the Squirrels just bite into stuff, like they are taste testing, and if they don't like it, such as my unripe raspberries, then they just leave them on the ground. So even having some creature take a bite into this caterpillar to see if it is edible, would be such a loss.

Mother Raccoon in the garden, very near the caterpillar that first evening. You can see the swamp milkweed to the right in the photo; look for the pink blooms.

I've since decided to try and protect this creature. A number of people raise them indoors but Angie and I agreed to not do that. Time is of the essence here so I asked a few co-workers that do gardening for any sort of netting that they may have left over from protecting their vegetable gardens. My pal Mark had a roll of gutter screening laying around and I think it will do for the time being.

As you can see in the photo, I've staked around the plant, well enough away to not harm the roots, with a couple shovels and a stainless steel post. I've attached the gutter screening using some zip ties. It should work, giving this being a better chance on making it to the final stage, emerging as a Monarch Butterfly. They really are stunning creatures. I know I took them for granted, seeing so many all my life. Then a few years back their numbers dropped drastically. It was over a year before I saw another one. Now while they are quite common once again, I still take a moment to watch them.

It's funny because we've had lots of milkweed over the years, mostly the common milkweed. A social media friend gave me swamp milkweed a couple years ago. We've never had a caterpillar as far as we knew. Then this year none of the milkweed returned for whatever reason. Back in May I was at a garden centre and I saw they had a couple swamp milkweed plants. I figured why not buy one for our slowly developing pollinator garden. I am so glad I did!

If you saw my last blog , you can see some of the plants in this garden. Here's a couple other shots though.

Salvias, both annuals and perennials.

A couple cone flowers. Not sure what the yellow flower is at the moment, other than nice to look at. We've also got Columbine, Phlox, 3 varieties of Bee Balm, a few Lilies, black raspberries, etc. With more plants to come!

Stay tuned for an update in another week or so.

Scratch that, update now...

I was about ready to publish this blog when I decided to go see what's happened in the last 45 minutes. Well, to my dismay, I found the caterpillar on the gutter screening, having climbed off the plant and heading up. That's no place for him to be. *sigh*

Thankfully my job to protect him wasn't a lot of time and effort, which is maybe why it didn't work. Whatever. I decided to remove it all and get him back on the plant. The tear down took about 20 seconds and he was back "home" and working his way around.

So maybe it's best to just let nature happen here. We've at least provided him a place to grow. The nearby bird bath is empty and I will temporarily move it from this spot to draw less activity.

Hey, at least I am trying here.

If you have any suggestions that do not include cutting up the plant and bringing the caterpillar inside, you have my attention.

No Place Like Home

Summer sure is flying by. It's already the August long weekend. We like to spend most of the summer here at home in the backyard so that's what this blog is about. There really is no place like home. I'm sure anyone with their own backyard and into nature will agree.

No shortage of Raccoons as we have 2 families roaming the 'hood plus a couple males.

The fountain is a popular spot on the hot nights. The kids monkey around and knock the river rocks out of the tiers and one of them detached the hose from the pump. Little s**ts! But I love 'em.

What a face!

Shy boy.

Big daddy. The young ones flee when he makes an appearance. The males have nothing to do with the mom nor the kids.

Whisky Wednesday is a little more entertaining at this time of year.

One of the kids has something wrong with it's back left leg. He holds it upright much of the time. Angie noticed it on Sunday night. I happened to see him on Tuesday with my own eyes. Craziest thing was while walking out back, and focusing on him, I neglected to notice a smallish Skunk in the garden. I passed it by with about 6 ft between us. The Skunk immediately hissed and stomped his feet. That's a warning if you did not know. Next thing it did shocked the hell out of me though. He chased me! I've never encountered that before. I never did stop moving when I first realized he was there but my pace certainly quickened with this pursuit. He stopped after 10 ft or so and then disappeared in our tall flowers along the fence line. GREAAAAAAAAAAAAAT! For added adventure my head lamp was fading out. I'm down by the shed, some 100+ ft from the house. I watched the Raccoon for a brief bit, making mental notes. No visible signs of a wound to his leg but definitely holding it up to his body when moving about. He could climb the trees as well as his siblings so that's good. I planned on speaking with a wildlife rehabilitator in the morning about him. The mosquitoes were happy that I was out and buzzing around me, trying to suck my blood. Time to go back inside.

I'm creeping my way back to the house. I don't know where that Skunk is and am doing my best to let him know I am coming through. I am jingling my keys in one hand. I have my claw rake in the other, which I am using to stomp on the ground for further noise (no I am not going to use it on him). I'm near our picnic table where everything opens up more. I'm in the clear. Who comes out now but that Skunk. He again gives chase to me. WTF?!?! Four long strides and I am up on our deck. Home free now. Still puzzled by this one's behaviour. My best guess is the young Raccoons had already agitated him. They don't know what Skunks are until they get sprayed so in the meantime they can follow a Skunk around as it digs for grubs and whatever else, then try to steal the food from them. Maybe?

A good place to be when this Skunk is around, eh.

Other than that, we have random sightings of a male Hummingbird, usually near dark.

We have a new family of Robins that have literally just dropped into the backyards on August 1st.

A big first day out, hopping all over the backyards. After many feeds in the evening, this one had a 30 minute nap here. I was concerned he was going to stay there and be vulnerable to the creatures of the night but come near dark he hopped further down back and joined the others. They were all out again the following morning. Entertaining stuff for nature lovers like us!

My Pigeon pal Charlie, who has been coming around for over a year and a half now, finally has a "friend". They were smooching a lot the first couple weeks...

and now just pal around together a lot.

A male Downy Woodpecker has taken to roosting in one of our bird boxes. This seems to happen every summer after the nesting season is done. The Woodpecker will use the box right through the winter as well. Then come spring, when it's time to nest again, they disappear. Rumour has it that they prefer to make their own nesting cavity. That's alright. I am happy the box is of use to them through the other part of the year. It's a safe dry place for him.

After inside, they usually like to peek out the hole for a short while until it gets darker. Now my after work backyard strolls will have to be quieter and I will stay as far away from this box as I can.

We've baby sat this young Hairy Woodpecker throughout the last few weeks. He flies in and sits on the deck, picking at seeds and nuts, then taking them to the trees to bash and eat. He was flying in with his father but it seems he is now on his own.

I've been working on the back garden since last summer. I had forgotten some of the stuff I planted. So this summer I've been paying close attention to mystery plants and waiting to see what came of them, hoping they weren't weeds. It paid off with this gorgeous bee balm I forgot about. A Black Swallowtail and a bee going for the same bloom.

Pollination in process on this lily.

A stunning colour of cone flower that I bought last year has been a popular spot too.

Thanks for stopping in. Wishing you all a great and safe long weekend. Cheers!