I was so excited when my Mom and I found this caterpillar on a bush in Goodale Gardens in Edinboro. I have always wanted to find a monarch caterpillar (yes you read this correctly). This bush was covered with caterpillars of all different sizes. The little ones were white, yellow, and black; they must turn this beautiful lime green as they get bigger and shed their skin. The black stripes are so black they looked just like velvet. It seems like I took 25 or 30 pictures trying to get the focus just right. Really, I was just so thrilled with every part of this photo and finding the caterpillars . . . I'm sure Mom just wished I would stop blathering on and on. We did have such a nice afternoon walking around and shopping in the little farmer's market.
Skip ahead a week or so . . . today (August 7th), Jennifer texted me to say that she just went to butterfly class and my caterpillars weren't monarchs after all. Sigh. I don't know why I am so disappointed. The eastern black swallowtail is much more "exotic" and the caterpillars are still the most beautiful caterpillars I've ever seen. It did seem odd that there were so many "monarch" caterpillars on a bush that wasn't a milkweed . . .
