Hey, it's Friday again! And it's officially fall. My beach sessions are winding down and I'm ready for some colorful sessions among the falling leaves. I think my favorite part of fall is the breezes. There is a month or so where the weather is just perfect. Cool, crisp mornings give way to warm sunshine-y afternoons, followed by brisk, breezy evenings. I really wish the toe-numbing winter didn't follow. But, I suppose we would't appreciate spring and summer like we do if it weren't for old man winter. Right?
The big news this week is that we have babies! This is actually our 5th or 6th round of babies - caterpillars, that is. I have watched them grow and then disappear only to return a couple of weeks later as butterfies. I have actually watched them lay eggs on my parsley plants. It's all pretty incredible if you ask me. I thought they had gone for the season.
On the last round, I tried to keep them in a butterfly habitat so that we could watch them grow and transform into beautiful Eastern Black Swallowtails. Much to my despair, they died before pupating. We had run out of parsley, as they devour it so quickly. They had eaten all 6 of my plants to nubs. I bought an organic parsley plant, washed it and put it out for them. The next day they all lay dying.
I cried. Seriously. My kids didn't cry, ha ha, but this bleeding heart of mine...oh, it's hard to suppress. So, I was delighted when I discovered more babies in our back yard this week.
The big news this week is that we have babies! This is actually our 5th or 6th round of babies - caterpillars, that is. I have watched them grow and then disappear only to return a couple of weeks later as butterfies. I have actually watched them lay eggs on my parsley plants. It's all pretty incredible if you ask me. I thought they had gone for the season.
On the last round, I tried to keep them in a butterfly habitat so that we could watch them grow and transform into beautiful Eastern Black Swallowtails. Much to my despair, they died before pupating. We had run out of parsley, as they devour it so quickly. They had eaten all 6 of my plants to nubs. I bought an organic parsley plant, washed it and put it out for them. The next day they all lay dying.
I cried. Seriously. My kids didn't cry, ha ha, but this bleeding heart of mine...oh, it's hard to suppress. So, I was delighted when I discovered more babies in our back yard this week.
A few fun facts about them - the young larva, as pictured below are black and white to mimic bird droppings. They grow quite quickly and go through several transformations of color with older larva becoming green, black and yellow and almost the size of your pinky finger. Swallowtail larva have horn like organs behind their heads called osmeteria, which are a bright orange-yellow. When threatened, they will rear up and extrude their osmeterium attempting to smear the predator with a chemical repellent. It's rather stinky business. But fun to watch.
Here's hoping they survive my good intentions this round.
Here are my shots from this week:
iPhone pics:
How was your week? Are you happy enjoying the arrival of fall?
Thank you so much for stopping in. I absolutely appreciate your visits!
I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
