Saturday's critters!

 There are so many critters in the yard.

The milkweed are their own little habitat. The Tufted Milkweed Moths are doing their thing.

There are lots of bugs! Monarchs and tufted together.

The crows have been vocal, since the little ones fledged. I've enjoyed watching for them. crow 

The lactating doe still hasn't brought the fawn around! Her poor face, with deerflies. mama doe 

 

Out in the front yard, both a monarch and a fritillary on the milkweed. butterflies  (The monarch is difficult to see!)

 

We've lots of slugs around.

This is a bit strange. Walking in the meadow, I saw a slug hanging from a thread. It could be an LDD caterpillar thread. It was rather weird! Doug the slug 

 

For more critters: visit Saturday's Critters # 394

#elxn43, Chrysalis, moths, etc.

The seasons are changing. Yet, Tuesday morning we had a storm front go through, and Wednesday it was quite humid.

• ELECTION43

Along with the seasonal change, the Writ Has Dropped in Canada on Wednesday. We are in election mode until Oct. 21st. The government is in caretaker mode. Deep breath!!!

 #cdnpoli #elxn43 https://t.co/OF3sA60XHR

— Marieke Walsh (@MariekeWalsh) September 11, 2019

This means our government will NOT ratify USMCA (AKA NAFTA 2.0), all federal government business shuts down. My son-in-law has been campaigning. He was on Power and Politics yesterday. We are so proud of him!

GO, JL, GO! He has been out campaigning in his electric car!

Soon, this will be frozen and white!

The critters

I moved it from the backyard, where it was munching a milkweed plant that was nearly stripped bare!

I found two more monarch caterpillars on the front lawn. I'm not sure they have time to morph. We shall see. You'll notice the leaves are being stripped by both monarchs and tufted milkweed moth caterpillars!

Just as we were about to leave for Gananoque, I spotted three critters (monarch caterpillar, tufted milkweed caterpillar, beetle) sharing the milkweed plant


In the backyard, a monarch on the chicken wire protecting my hibiscus.

The moths

These are big moths. There were two Tuesday on the front porch.

an underwing! If only I'd peeked at it!
Catocala amatrix

Then, this pretty fancy one.

Polygonia interrogationis

On the back deck, question mark butterflies have now numbered 20! Two in the aquarium have gone black, and I think died. Natural selection, I guess. Monarch Watch says there is a problem with hand-raised cats. I thought they were fine in the aquarium. Apparently, they need natural light and dark periods.


They are slowly eclosing in the aquarium, as well as on the walls! There is one under the pad of the bench, to the left of the aquarium.


This one was just out, and on the roof of the back deck. It's hanging off of its old shell. You can see the one on the door frame, waiting for its time.


I am always amazed with their patterns. They can hide pretending to be a leaf, until they open their wings. They spend 7 to 18 days in chrysalis, I just found out.