The hummingbirds have been with us all summer, flocking around the feeder and usually draining it once a day. We sometimes see a dozen at a time.
This is the time of year that other things start showing up. We have been noticing praying mantises in the last few weeks. This one thought the hummingbird feeder would make a good hunting ground.
Sunday afternoon I noticed this caterpillar eating leaves on one of our crepe myrtles.
It looks like a Chinese dragon. The four yellow spots on its back are actually some kind of hump.
I have no idea what this one is. Does anyone else know?
I had no idea that mantises would try to eat hummingbirds but a friend sent me a link to an Audubon site that had a gruesome photo of a mantis doing just that. Pretty wild. I’ve never seen a Chinese Dragon caterpillar, but if that’s one it is stunning! Wow!
Our organization invested in a really good “caterpillars of eastern North America” book–heavy stock, glossy paper, and beautiful photographs. Then, it developed prolegs (the caterpillar equivalent of legs) and walked away, never to be seen again. I miss it, but I’m not investing in another. So, I can’t definitively help you on your Chinese dragon, but I think it’s a tussock moth caterpillar.
I believe that’s a White-marked Tussock Moth capterpillar.
http://naturetales.blogspot.com/2006/07/tussock-moth-tiger-moth-caterpillars.html
Or caterpillar
Robin — It was a stunner.
Scott and Ridger — I think you’re right about what kind it was. I tried to look it up but there were so many possibilities and I had no idea where to even start that I gave it up.