Pink Spinx

About 2 weeks ago I found a caterpillar lying near the edge of our garage. Judging by its position, it may have been stung by a wasp or hornet. At any rate, I identified it as a Hydrangea Spinx caterpillar, which can vary in color. The one I found was a lovely shade of pink, but they also can be green.

Being Stung Really Smarts (Get it? Anyone?)

A few days ago, I found this guy outside on a plant.

It's called a Smartweed Caterpillar (also known as a Smeared Dagger Moth Caterpillar), and it's known for having quite the nasty sting to it. It's not the only stinging Caterpillar, but it is one of the more common. They'll eat strawberry, grasses, corn, clover, and Smartweed (duh).

FEAR ME.

I found one on our strawberry plants last year. Note that these caterpillars are variable in color: the one I found this year was black with yellow stripes, while the one on the strawberry was red with yellow spots.

Thankfully I didn't get stung either time. It's not that I knew what kind of caterpillar they were. Instead, there are certain steps to taking an educated guess as to whether or not the caterpillar is poisonous.

1. AVOID ANYTHING THAT'S YELLOW, RED OR BOTH. These are warning colors for most animals. Ones that are both yellow and red have a better chance of being poisonous.
2. AVOID ANYTHING WITH SPINES. Spines are often how caterpillars deliver poison. Hairs can also cause irritation.
3. AVOID ANY BIZARRE CATERPILLARS. By bizarre, I mean any caterpillars with bright colors or strange body shapes. These are often poisonous too.

Avoid this like the plague.

Buckeyes! (The butterfly, not the nut)

The other day I found a Buckeye caterpillar crawling across a parking lot. (Buckeye caterpillars can be identified by their spines and the orange markings across their sides). I brought it home and it almost immediately began to hang in a J-form.

 The next day, it had chrysalised.

Bad picture focus ahoy!

The chrysalis will probably overwinter. I'll post when it does hatch.

From a Volenteers Eyes

So, now that we’re on our seventh entry on the blog, you guys may be asking yourselves, “What’s it like volunteering at the Butterfly House? When did it first open? How long has the Flight Attendant been there?” If so, you’re either simply curious or you’re a stalker.

Don't make me use this.

The Butterfly House has been open for four years, and I’ve been volunteering there since it first opened.  Volunteering usually goes something like this:

1. Arrive at Butterfly House
2. Previous volunteer leaves
3. Start shift – check to make sure that there are plenty of sugar sticks and that the microscopes and monitors are focused
4. Close up - Closing up involves turning off the water valves and fans, closing the caterpillar containers, changing the ‘Open’ sign to closed, locking up, and bringing the tickets up to the Visitor’s center. Opening up in the morning appears to be similar to closing up, but I’ve never worked a morning shift so I can’t be sure.

Pictured: Me at 10:00 in the morning

The other volunteers also work quite hard, and it’s very helpful to work together to deal with everyone when a large group of people come in at the same time. For example, one of us can help identify a butterfly or plant while another attendant introduces the people who just came in. By doing this, we can keep everyone informed and attend to everyone’s needs without being completely overwhelmed.

Speaking of which, there are several things we volunteers try to do to assist the visitors.

•  Introduce people if they haven’t been here before and remind them to turn in their tickets.
• Help with identifying butterflies, chrysalises, caterpillars, plants and anything else they may have questions about.
• Show people the best way to get a butterfly on a sugar stick. 
• Answer any questions they may have about Beech Creek or the house itself.
• Remind people not to step up on the bricks or in the gardens.

Occasionally we will also try to capture butterflies that come to our gardens to place inside the house. One of us will go outside for a few minutes and bring whatever they catch inside. We aren’t very picky, but there are some species we favor over others. Any skippers (save for Silver Spotteds) are usually kept outside, as are Monarchs (due to disease and the overabundance of them we have in the house). We also will not usually bring in a species that we don’t have in the House already due to them not being able to breed.

I hope you've enjoyed this little insight. And if you didn't, please remember that I know where you live.

Seriously.

Too Many Monarchs

Now, don't get me wrong, monarchs are easy to breed and raise (save for some diseases, but that's a post for later) and are quite pretty to look at. However, this also means that it's very easy to get an... overabundance of them in the House.

There's also a little caterpillar off the side if you you closely.

And this is just one side of the enclosure.

Numbered for your convenience.

Catipillar Calisthenics

A few weeks ago, we found an Angus Datana caterpillar in the House. When I went to move it, it started to do... this.

"Gotta work my pecs, which, um, don't actually exist."

I'm assuming it's some sort of defense thing. I was able to find very little info on this guy.