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.
Anyone I know trying to protect them brings them inside with pieces of the plant and keeps them in wire cages until they are ready to fly. Other than what you've already tried, I don't really know what else you could do aside from wishing them well. You're photos are incredible!
ReplyDeleteI know you're right, it's how I feel. But the mind does wonder, and wander. ;)
ReplyDeleteWe have HUNDREDS of larvae in our milkweed this year. Our plants are all pretty much defoliated. We have one in a container that was insisting it was going to crawl over our toasted grass to who knows where. It is a chrysalis now. Not sure how long it stays at that stage but we keep watch.
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ReplyDeleteStunning. A beautiful account. I'll send Reiki light and love to this little being with hopes he continues to thrive❤
ReplyDeleteAwesome find in your garden, Rob! I love Monarch butterflies. How is the little guy doing now?
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