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Hello Little Guy

August 8th, 2013

One day, Mr Chiots and I were sitting out back under the maple tree taking a break and we noticed this little guy walked across a log.
caterpillar 3
I grabbed my camera to take some photos so we could i.d. it. A quick google search leads us to believe it is the caterpillar of the white-marked tussock moth. From what I read, they defoliate trees and the birds love to eat them.
caterpillar 1
They’re rather interesting little caterpillars, so intricate with so many different kinds of hairy tufts.
caterpillar 2
This is one of the things I love about gardening, you get to see so many interesting thing, particularly insects. Check out this spider I spotted the other day. I told Mr Chiots that I found Shelob in the garden. It had a grasshopper all rolled up in it’s web.
spider
You just never know what you’re going to see when you head out into the garden every day!

Have you spotted any beautiful insects recently?

10 Comments to “Hello Little Guy”
  1. daisy on August 8, 2013 at 6:35 am

    That’s one hairy cat!
    We are actually hosting 3 different types of caterpillars right now. I even offered some of them on Craig’s List for free so that others can learn about them. It’s been a great way to share what we have learned.

    Reply to daisy's comment

  2. AmyS on August 8, 2013 at 7:32 am

    Just the other day we were out in the garden and I witnessed a hornet carrying a locust and he was just buzzing around my blackberries. Then all of a sudden he swooped down into his hole beside a plant with the hornet still attached. Never seen anything like that before. I was witnessing a live nature show. Amazing.

    Reply to AmyS's comment

  3. Linda on August 8, 2013 at 7:36 am

    The moth that is responsible for those horrid squash borers is simply lovely. When I saw one this summer (first time ever), I knew immediately what it was… unmistakable. Unfortunately, the larvae are the scourge of our garden.

    Reply to Linda's comment

  4. Nebraska Dave on August 8, 2013 at 8:08 am

    Nature is a dilemma that plagues us gardeners, isn’t it. I find it interesting that nature’s beauty can be so destructive at times. I really should take heed more to the wonder of nature around me while in the garden. I am such a goal oriented “git ur done” kind of guy that I suspect I miss allot of the mystery of nature around my projects. I do notice the animal life around the garden but have gotten down to the bug’s life.

    Have a great day in the garden.

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

  5. JJ on August 8, 2013 at 8:45 am

    Two sightings of hummingbird moths so far this summer; the one I saw the other day was just making it’s way around a hanging planter of petunias. I expect we’ll see more of the moths (and a few actual hummingbirds) at the end of the summer when our large-flowered hostas are in bloom…

    Reply to JJ's comment

  6. Lisa Sewell on August 8, 2013 at 9:59 am

    We have a big white spider living on our porch. The other day I was eating lunch out there and happened to look up at just the right moment as a hornet flew into her web. The spider swooped down, wrapped the hornet in her silk and then carried her back to her corner. Quite a demonstration!

    Reply to Lisa Sewell's comment

  7. E on August 8, 2013 at 10:00 am

    I have not noticed interesting insects, but I just discovered an Octopus Stinkhorn in a metal planter of ornamental grasses. I thought maybe an alien had hatched on my deck. It’s a pretty trippy fungus! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_Stinkhorn

    Reply to E's comment

  8. Misti on August 8, 2013 at 10:29 am

    I’ve had green grasshopper chowing down some plants lately but they are rather pretty at the same time. And I’ve got mealy bugs on my hibiscus which are a little creepy in their powdery bodies.

    Your spider looks like an an Argiope from this angle but I can’t be sure.

    http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?guide=Caterpillars this is a good website for narrowing down caterpillars.

    Reply to Misti's comment

  9. kathi Cook on August 9, 2013 at 8:33 am

    I usually plant parsley just to attract swallowtail caterpillars. It works like a charm. I find that moth larvae can be especially exotic looking. Yours is pretty cool.

    Reply to kathi Cook's comment

  10. Caroline on August 13, 2013 at 1:46 am

    I discovered a whole army of Mourning Cloak caterpillars. They’re a beautiful black with red spots down their backs. They were clustered all over a tree growing out of the foundation of the house. They did us a favor and ate all of the leaves on the tree!

    Otherwise all I’ve really seen are ants and wasps. And a couple of grasshoppers, but they were not in the garden, just trying to get in my backyard!

    Reply to Caroline's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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