An easy choice!

Had to “pass” on a pretty decent “Differential Grasshopper” (“Melanoplus differentialis”) image — http://bugguide.net/node/view/992934 — but I have not had the opportunity to photo a “beautiful caterpillar” until today! Thank you, Edie (Clare’s mom’s master-gardener neighbor)! Edie had already checked her butterfly book and it’s likely a Black Swallowtail caterpillar. On a parsley plant.

Confirmed at BAMONA as “Papilio polyxenes” or “Black Swallowtail”; http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/sighting_details/1002970

Species page at BAMONA, http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Papilio-polyxenes

1 year ago (“Gray moth”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2013-08-24
2 years ago (“Getting closer!”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2012-08-24
3 years ago (“Five weeks out…”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2011-08-24

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[Danette Thompson]

Beautiful clarity.

[Thom Mitchell]

@danette Notice the hitchhiker on the head, too?
I am trying-trying-trying to get caught up on posting so I can resume at least *some* commenting. :-P

[Rick Schies]

Wow, what a gorgeous capture of this beauty

[Danette Thompson]

Wow, that is one tiny hitchhiker!!

[Laetitia Petrussa]

So cool! Is that a little fly on its head?

[Thom Mitchell]

@laetitiapetrussa Indeed, it is!

[Tara]

I haven't been on here much lately and your shots having been popping up on my dashboard. This is amazing! The clarity, the color, the composition - fav!