How to spot a Monarch butterfly caterpillar!

Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillars

If you recall, I've been following the Milkweed

Teeny Tussock caterpillar

plant that was covered in Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillars. I don't think I've ever grossed out my Hydrogeologist daughter, who has been stung by wasps out in the field, and spends a certain amount of time outdoors wearing a hard hat, but I did! The crawling, seething mass of caterpillars were too much for her!

 They have moved from leaf to leaf, totally rendering the leaves into skeletons, dropping their little caterpillar poo on the leaf below. They don't seem to hurt the plant, since the plants have already bloomed and are producing seeds later this month. Plus, there are thousands of caterpillars on just the one plant, and I have hundreds of other Milkweed plants on the property. In a way, they are efficient.

The Latest critters in Milkweed plants

Another mystery egg!

Wicked Goldenrod Crab spider!
They attack wasps & bees!

In my search, I keep finding new critters who depend upon, or enjoy the Milkweed plant. The Monarch caterpillar eggs are white, as are the Tussock eggs.

Matchy-matchy, see the moth?

Red Milkweed beetle
starts eating on the edge

Tree frog,
with Red milkweed beetle damage on the leaf.

 I was checking on the progress of my Tussock caterpillars, intrigued with their life cycle, and couldn't find them. They are obvious, since they are so abundant in one spot.

How to hunt for caterpillars

Hundreds of Milkweed Tussock caterpillars

My strategy is to first look for a Milkweed plant with damage, then gently lean the plant over, while trying to avoid getting bitten by Deerflies.

When I hunt for Monarch caterpillars, I've found that there is usually a hole in the middle of the leaf, where the caterpillar hatched from the egg, then it moves about on the leaves. The Red Milkweed beetle starts at the edges of the leaves and eats out chunks.

As I realized the Tussocks were all gone, I noticed another Monarch caterpillar! At that point, I began to wonder how many eggs they actually lay.

Monarch butterfly
The ones that migrate to visit us in the north,
are different than those who stay further south.
Ours have longer life cycles.

The answer is, they don't really know. All they can do is speculate from those who have laid eggs in captivity.


Monarch butterfly notes by Dr. Karen Oberhauser
Q. How many eggs do the monarch butterflies lay in one time?

A. They only lay one egg at a time, and usually one per plant, but they can lay many in a single day. (The most I've seen is 205 in one day, but this is very unusual.)

Q. What is the most eggs a monarch has ever laid?
A. I have no way of knowing how many eggs wild females lay. However, I have studied fecundity (number of eggs laid) by captive females, and they highest number I've seen was 1179 during their lifecycle. The average is about 700, but this varies from year to year. They lay fewer in hot, dry summers.

Monarch butterfly

Monarch Lifecycle
The Monarch butterflies go through prolonged stages of metamorphoses , starting with its larva or caterpillar, shedding or molting its skin an amazing five times before the pupa stage.  You can see a diagram of the monarch life cycle that you can color in here. Our articles are free for you to copy and distribute.

Tree frogs, wasps, Foam Girls Reprise (with Foam Grampa!), grasshopper videos

Foam Girls reprise from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
Foam Girls reprise. This is a fun game we girls have been playing. Clean, cheap fun!
 Grampa entered the scene with his own game. I had to explain to Isabelle that he shaves his head every morning.


Dock spider from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
Spotting a Dock spider on the screen door I appointed Izzy to watch it, ran upstairs, grabbed the camera, grabbed Josephine, and had Jos make a movie about it! What teamwork! (Another grandmother of theirs does girlie things with them!)


Gray tree frog from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
This tree frog was hiding under the chair pad on the back deck."The cat came back the very next day..."  I moved it twice. I found it interesting to watch the way in which it moves!



Wasps from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
We have had wasps making a news for weeks. They haven't bothered us, truly. I could remove it, but it is to be done in the dark, when they do not fly. I don't want to use poison, as we have tree frogs on the back deck all the time!


Grasshoppers from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
Some pretty large grasshoppers in my garden.

Book Review: Barcelona Shadows

Here we are, another rainy day, what does a woman do; housecleaning, blogging, reading?

Yes, faithful readers, the latter. I was sent this gruesome book, and tried to wade my way through it. I know there is a market for it, but I had a hard time reading it. This book has been translated into English, the other three are not. It wasn't a language barrier, but I simply couldn't handle the story line. I'm not a tender violet, but I don't like blood, guts, and gore, especially when children are involved. The author,  Marc Pastor , who used his professional

Little is known of Enriqueta Martí i Ripollés
before she arrived in Barcelona
in the early years of the 19th Century 1868 - 1913

experiences as a crime scene investigator to bring the activities of this real-life woman, Enriqueta Martí i Ripollés , to life in this book, hasn't just written her story. He has crafted a gruesome tale and gets into her weird mind, which I found hard to follow. It might have helped if I had researched the story somewhat. I usually do not. Especially, I don't read book reviews prior to my reviews.

The last two victim

I found that while he did a fabulous job if getting into the deranged mind of this grisly person, it was too difficult to read. Yes, those who love this genre will be suitably thrilled! He writes from her point of view. It took me a couple of chapters to determine the killer was a 'she', and then, when I figured out it he was getting into her mind, and while she was thinking certain thoughts, it was tricky to sort that out from the actual dialogue. He is a good writer, no question. And why write a book that simply documents this horrid woman? His treatment is excellent. I just couldn't get through it!

Marc Pastor

He participated in this BBC interview, where he discusses the beginnings of twentieth-century Barcelona, the world that Enriqueta Martí i Ripollés  terrorized, while displaying authentic, old photographs of Enriqueta and her victims. Pastor explains that as he was writing this book, he struggled to get into the mind of his terrible, Hannibal Lecter-esque subject, but when, in his day job, he had to investigate a case of a modern-day female serial killer, he encountered the kind of cold, prideful person that would help him to bring Enriqueta alive on the page. 

What an alarming coincidence! 
SPOILER ALERT: 

 From the publisher:

Marc Pastor's research: old newspapers

Enriqueta was leading a double life. During the day she dressed in rags and begged at houses of charity, convents and parishes in the destitute parts of town where she selected children who looked the most abandoned. Taking the children by the hand, she made them pass as her children. Later, she prostituted or murdered them. She did not have any need to beg, since her double work as a procurer and prostitute gave her sufficient money to live well. By night she dressed in luxurious clothes, hats and wigs, and attended the El Liceu, the Casino de la Arrabassada and other places where the wealthy of Barcelona gathered. It is probable that in these places she offered her services as procurer of children.

Semicolon

Milkweed Tussock Moth: Euchaetes egle from eggs to caterpillar

Finally, I snagged photos of a milkweed tussock moth!



These weeny little caterpillars are Milkweed Tussock moth eggs, and larvae, as confirmed on BAMONA. They begin at Day 1, Day 2 you could see spots, day 3, they turned white and another critter dropped some eggs beside them! Totally decimating the plant, they work leaf-by-leaf, leaving their droppings underneath on the leaf.

Milkweed Tussock Moth or Milkweed Tiger Moth

I have yet to photograph one!

Euchaetes egle (Drury, 1773)

Family: Erebidae

Subfamily: Arctiinae

Egg masses are laid on the leaf.

These are the cutest little caterpillars.

Visit more critters

It is August, and lots of critters!

July 23rd I spotted it

July 29th - same Milkweed plant

The good news: Monarch caterpillar in the vegetable garden is still there and has tripled in size.
Now, most people grow veggies in a veggie garden. I do have rhubarb and 3rd year asparagus, but mostly daisies and twitch grass, as well as several carefully watched Milkweed plants.

The next good news: Geraldine has appeared again. I guess her nights of getting lucky are over. There

are three males in the frog pond, down beside the meadow, but she gets fed up with them and comes back up here to the goldfish pond mid-summer. There is still water down below, but the males tend to be aggressive, so they say.

Big and little leopards!

I'll have to grab her and measure her again. She sits in the middle of the plant pot. Last year she was huge, and doesn't seem to have gone on any sort of a nutritional plan! At this size they eat anything that moves. Last year, I spotted her gobble up a wee leopard frog.

Goldfish pond is hopping!

Geraldine - Queen of the goldfish pond

Things are growing everywhere.
Daisy and Dorah came with me to check on the status of the Monarch caterpillar down in the meadow, but we saw no sign of it. We did see lots of other critters. Including tree frogs on the milkweed! There were two tiny ones.

Echinacea

Back up in the front and back gardens: bugs and blooms...

Despite the lily beetles!

 

another beetle

Monster caterpillar
on the Bine 

Then, up on the back deck, I lifted the chair pad to sit down. You really have to watch them. The gray tree frogs (yes they turn colour to green, too) get into the BBQ, as well. This was a tree frog who showed no interest in eating my wasps.

All day it sat on this chair. I moved it twice!