We found this fiesty little fella crossing the bike path ready to take on anyone and anything that got in his way. When I bent down to pick him up he reared back and two orange horn-like features shot out of the top of his head. These look threatening but their actual function is to give off an odor that repels birds and other predators.
We put him in our camera bag and were speeding home to find an empty peach jar for him to summer in when we spotted another, even more defensive, fat little guy further down the path.
Caterpillars typically only eat one or two types of plants and for our friends here it's the Dutchman's Pipevine, a common vine clinging inconspicuously to the insides of larger plants and trees. We set off on the bike again to find some and came across a fluttering adult Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly which led us to the plant. However, our buddies are most likely no longer hungry. Caterpillars start out about 2mm long when born and shed their skin, changing colors with each shedding, in stages called instars. Beause these guys are so long, plump, and rich in color, and beause they were rambling out in dangerous places far from home, they are both likely to build their Chrysalis at any moment. We are taking them with us so that Little Honey can see the change.
