I thoroughly enjoyed the Kids’ Caterpillar Weekend at Natural Bridge State Resort Park. Naturalists Tyler Morgan and Brian Gasdorf were enthusiastic and gracious hosts. Tyler’s excellent presentations and the caterpillar hunts were both educational and fun. Other highlights of the weekend were Judy Burris and Wayne Richards’ delightful butterfly presentation, a butterfly hunt and moth watch.
I’m amazed at the different caterpillar shapes, colors, and designs, as well as their intriguing names. Here’s a sample of what we saw. Click any image for a larger version and click the enlargement to view the next image.
(Halysidota tessellaris)
(Acharia stimulea)
(Apatelodes torrefacta)
note the red “shoes”
(Schizura unicornis)
(Family Notodontidae)
(Parasa indetermina)
(Norape ovina)
(Acronita americana)
I’ve enjoyed finding and watching caterpillars as a part of raising butterflies and moths. Knowing their entire life cycles is quite satisfying. However I now realize that caterpillars can be a fascinating subject all on their own.
I’m hoping for a repeat of the caterpillar weekend next year and am tentatively saving the weekend before Labor Day of 2013 (August 23-24). In the meantime, I look forward to seeing what caterpillars I can find in our backyard and nearby.
These pictures are fantastic! You have inspired me to find out the host plants for all those wonderful creatures and see if I can find some of them in our woods. Thanks.
I’ll be interested in what you find, Linda. Early morning, early evening, and after dark seems the best times though we also found some in the middle of the day.
What a handsome group of juvenile fashion models! How can their mommas be anything but proud of their runway debuts?
I appreciate your creative way of describing them, Beth. Since their ‘mommas’ were moths, do you think they would recognize their ‘babes’? ☺