Caterpillar Club

It's getting crowded in the caterpillar jar(s) since I'm caring for 8 individuals. Seven are still caterpillars and one formed a chrysallis this morning. Here are five I managed to wrangle into one shot. The smallest one has increased its size by a factor of 10 over the past 5 days.

The dark splotch near the one on the far right is a shed skin. They wriggle out of their skin 5 times as they grow. Each stage is called an instar. The little one is instar 1 or 2, and the larger one is probably instar 3.

The caterpillars are growing! They eat only milkweed leaves so I have to find new leaves each day when I clean out their jar. As long as they are eating, they are also dropping frass (poop). Raising caterpillars is interesting, but you have to be responsible and keep them clean and fed. Easy when they are small, but as they grow, so do their needs.

Classroom guests

It's almost back to school time! I like to start the year with something interesting to study, so I've searched my yard for some of my favorite subjects: monarch butterfly caterpillars. I found two tiny caterpillars and one egg. The tiny one just hatched from its egg a few hours ago, the other one a couple of days ago. The dime is in the picture so you can judge their size by a familiar object.

I'll keep adding photos as they grow and eat. I think they'll be very large by the time Sept 7th comes.

English birds

Even on vacation I can't resist taking photos of birds. I met this cheeky Chaffinch in the north of England at an old Roman fort ruin being excavated. I stopped to eat a snack at a picnic table, and before I even opened it, this little bird approached me looking for a handout.

The next adventure:

http://www.earthwatch.org/exped/bidwell.html