Ohhhhhhhh, happy day. I've been waiting for two years to find Giant Swallowtail caterpillars munching on our Wafer Ash Trees (also known as Hop Trees). These trees were some of the very first plants we chose for our wildlife habitat, and I've been waiting and waiting for the those big, gorgeous butterflies to find them. Time and again over the past two years I searched, getting my hopes up when noting the occasional bird poop on the foliage, only to discover it was REAL bird poop. But look what I found today! Real bird poop caterpillars!
Aren't they beautiful?!!! Yes, and gross, too. I'm completely convinced that these caterpillars have the best camouflage of any creature in the world.
Not so much "camouflage," though -- they really are quite out in the open, saying "Here we are!" But they sure don't look like anything I'd want to eat if I were a bird. We actually found three of them. I hope, I hope... that I'll get to watch them through chrysalis and butterfly stage. FYI, they also like lemon trees, lime trees, and other citrus trees, so if you don't have Wafer Ash, look for them on your citrus trees.
And whoa -- another discovery! We have ripe Roma tomatoes! It's official -- I have bird poop AND I'm a successful tomato gardener!
Happy, happy day.
yay for caterpillars!!! i love it!
we just started harvesting tomatoes as well...it's been a good year so far for our plants, lots of green maters on the stalks, so even if the weather spikes i think i can call this season successful...at least compared to last where we got 2 tomatoes total..;)
Thank you so much for this post. I just saw them this morning on my orange tree and did not know what they were. I can't wait!!!!!
Yes, they love citrus! I've been eagerly watching my citrus trees, too, but the Wafer Ash was the chosen plant in my yard, at least for now.
The caterpillar is amazing. You're right: there's nothing there that would make me smack my lips with hunger.
Meredith I'm green with envy! For the past several years a single swallowtail has graced my garden. Haven't seen it yet this year. It is still cold outside, so maybe if we finally warm up, this is suppose to be a desert climate. Be sure to share the progress!
Joy, too funny!
Meredehuit, I hope this might be the year for you! I will do my best to report the progress. I decided to rescue the caterpillars today and house them in a shelter. Something killed one of the ones I took pictures of yesterday, and I don't want that to happen to the other two!
LOL! Who'd have thought one could get excited about bird poop. :) And it really DOES look like bird poop!
OK Ill show greater respect for bird poop in the future - didn't know it could hide such a treasure! :)
I just found one on my Meyer lemon tree today. I new the moment I saw it that this was a special discovery. My oldest stepson will be excited!!!
Yay! I know you'll enjoy watching it grow. They don't look as much like bird boop as they get bigger, though. Pretty interesting.
I had three of these caterpillars on my citrus tree. They have left their chrysalide as butterfly and flew away about a week ago. It seems as though one has returned today! Do you know if they return to where they transformed regularly?