We started the morning with a butterfly mystery. Last week, there were 5 Monarch caterpillars on the Milkweed plant. Today, there were none, and the plant had not one leaf left.
With our trusty butterfly chart and magnifying glasses in hand, we set out to search for clues of what might have happened to those caterpillars.
Along the way, we inspected host plants of Alfalfa butterfly (host plant = legumes), Gulf Fritillary (host plant = passionflower), and Cabbage butterfly (host plant = well, that one's fairly obvious).
We found a Gulf Fritillary caterpillar on the Passionflower vine! The kids noticed it had "spikies" to scare away predators and that it moved very slowly.
We did not solve the mystery, but we did identify the possibilities that the caterpillars might have transformed into butterflies or run out of food and, well, not survived. The caterpillars could have also gone away to search for more Milkweed. Apparently, butterflies are quite particular about which plants they eat.
<
We actually spotted a handful of orange butterflies in the garden as families were leaving to go home. Unfortunately, we were all so muddy and tired from playing the day away that we were unable to identify what kind of butterflies they were.>
Ah, the joys of spring!!!!
 |
| This might be the only picture of me on the blog! |
