The Bugs in the Backyard: Caterpillars, And How to Find Them

You know, for most of my recent blogs, I went outside for a walk without my camera, not intending to look for bugs or take pictures, but somehow I always find things, and then have to go back to the house to get the camera. This is probably a good thing, because I am supposed to be getting some exercise, but really, I should just admit that when I am outside, I am looking for bugs.

Today as I was walking around in the backyard I was thinking about how last year around this time I was finding lots of weird caterpillars, and this year I am not finding any. I am sure you can guess what happened after that. I took about three more steps and found the Backyard Bug of the Day, which is... a caterpillar.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

I am 99% sure this is an eastern tiger swallowtail caterpillar. It only looks like bird poop. It is quite small at this point, so it's a pretty early instar. I immediately adopted it to raise inside and hopefully protect it from predators.

After I got the caterpillar all settled in the house I continued on my walk and only a few steps past where I found that caterpillar I found...

... another one! I adopted this one, too. One of the interesting things that eastern tiger swallowtail caterpillars do is to make a little mat of silk on a leaf and rest on that mat. In this picture you can see the mat that this caterpillar has made.

An even better picture of the silk mat. I don't really understand why this caterpillar does that. First of all, what does it need rest for? All it does is eat. Secondly, the only possible tiring thing it does is make that mat.

If you want to find a caterpillar, you don't always have to spot the caterpillar itself in order to find it. Sometimes you can find them based on evidence that they are around. You can look for leaf damage...

... like this...

Or...

... frass. But here's the thing. This particular milkweed plant has lots of leaf damage, and lots of frass, but I couldn't find a caterpillar on it anywhere. Of course, the caterpillar could have been eaten by something, or it could have moved on, either to dine elsewhere or to go find a place to pupate (based on the size of the frass, the caterpillar could be big enough for that now). But how has a caterpillar managed to make all this mess without me seeing it? I look at that plant every day, looking for bugs - how did I miss this? Seeing as it's a milkweed plant, it could have been a monarch, or a milkweed tussock moth caterpillar (probably the latter, as I have seen at least one of those this year), but whatever it was, it's not there now...

I did find one other caterpillar today. Sort of:

I noticed this gathering of wasps (bees?) on the ground, and cautiously looked to see what they were swarming over. It is a large caterpillar - I have tried to figure out what kind, without much success, but I think it is either a luna moth or a polyphemus moth. It saddens me that this happened, because those are both amazing moths, but this is the way of nature. I shouldn't value one kind of insect over another, I guess, but I do. I wish this caterpillar had escaped this fate to become a moth. I don't know if the wasps (bees?) attacked and killed it, or if something else did.

I went by later and the wasps (bees?) had mostly gone away. And later still there was no sign of any of it.

Random Bugs:

I found yet another of these big moths - It might be an American dagger moth. I saw another one later in the day, but it didn't stick around to have its picture taken. This one has a damaged wing. It seems weird that I am seeing so many of these moths, but did not see any of the caterpillars they came from.

Assassin bug

Another assassin bug

My favorite weevil

Leaf hopper

Candy striped leaf hopper

Long legged fly

Missing-legged cricket

Assuring future generations of small milkweed bugs

A moth has laid eggs on the deer netting again. I guess this year it's not as bad a spot, since it never rains, and therefore they won't be washed away like last year. Also, see that yellow thing on the lower eggs?

Here it is zoomed in. No idea what it is...

I found this beautiful bug in its death throes on the back porch. This kind of beetle will play dead as a form of self defense, but I am pretty sure it was actually dying. I kind of felt bad taking its picture, but it is a beautiful beetle.