Wild Baby Week - Black Swallowtail Butterfly

Okay, so clearly this isn't a butterfly; however, it is the larval (baby) form of what will become a gorgeous Black Swallowtail butterfly.  I've been raising this little guy/gal since I collected it as a freshly laid egg.  I had taken some photos of it about an hour before this one was taken and had settled on blipping a shot of it adorned with rain drops, like little jewels.  Then, I looked in on it and realized that it was shedding it's skin and face!  So, the blip had to be this one, of my caterpillar changing into a clean set of jammies.

The yellow "horns" that are slightly visible here are seen only when the cat is threatened.  They slide out of it's head and emit a bad odor, meant to deter anything from eating it.  I gently touched the side of it with a piece of grass to get this response.  

I saw my first-ever black swallowtail cat not long after I started blipping and it featured prominently in some of my earliest blips.  My gear as well as my technique have improved since that shot was taken, but it's still a personal favorite of mine.  

Had a great outing with some of my naturalist friends today, although we had to cut things short when thunder storms moved in.  Still, we saw some very interesting dragonflies and other insects.  A fun morning.  Some of the highlights were a mud-puddling Summer Azure butterfly and an aptly named Bird dropping Moth (yep, that's really it's name).  

Last night, I got a good look at my first baby red-bellied woodpecker of the year.  They look so adorable with their white heads, almost like they are bald.  

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get some good titmouse fledgling photos.  They are starting to come around the patio now and they are cuter than cute.  

Feel free to join me in Wild Baby Week - see yesterday's blip for tagging instructions.

xo
Debbi