Monarch in striped pajamas

[neverspent]

Saturday I traveled from the city to the farm, and it was an excellent day for wildlife sightings. I'll write more about that later, but I wanted to give this handsome monarch caterpillar its own post.



My dad, who grew up on farms in Kansas where milkweed was a considerable enemy, would like to see more monarchs, I'm sure. Down here, neither milkweed nor monarchs are common or uncommon. I assume the fellow I met on Saturday was a fourth generation monarch and will be migrating to Mexico after he pupates and emerges with his wings.

Good luck, fellow!

Comments

Stunning outfit, what a shame we can't all adopt that fashion

[15_the_circle]

Lovely images, thanks so much for sharing them in this space.

Re: Stunning outfit, what a shame we can't all adopt that fashion

[neverspent]

Thank you! I'm honored you stopped by. And I would love to have pajamas like that. :)

[jjhunter]

Here via ysabetwordsmith; gorgeous photos, thanks for posting!

[neverspent]

Thank you! I don't run across these guys every day, so it's fun to share. :)

[shinsetsu]

Certainly seems like Nature made the Monarch a very visible beacon to birds.

[neverspent]

Seems crazy, doesn't it? But woe to the bird who tries to eat one! :) A lot of times little prey animals that are brightly colored are warning of toxicity (or mimicking a toxic animal for protection). Just think of the poison arrow frog!

[shinsetsu]

Ahh, I see. I had forgotten about that. Thanks.

I saw this today, and it reminded me of you:

On D'Glenn's Quote of the Day:

'L'automne est le deuxième printemps où chaque feuille est une fleur.' ['Autumn is the second spring when every leaf is a flower.'] -- Albert Camus



--Picture and original source for quote from here.