They Will Come

I'm so excited I have to share a non-bird, but nature-oriented, surprise. We've reached a new benchmark of success with our landscaping endeavors, specifically our addition of a Spicebush to our yard three years ago. Spicebush was one of the species that topped the list of "must have" plants, as their ripe-in-the-fall berries have that high lipid content migrant birds crave. And, widening my bird-centric view of nature, the spicebush is a larval host plant of the Spicebush Swallowtail, one of my favorite butterflies.

Our spicebush is part of a larger garden that is
protected by deer netting to keep out the varmints.
We decide who gets to nibble on the leaves!

During a recent after dinner, after-the-rain walk through the yard my daughter and I were surveying the Japanese Beetle damage to various plants. The spicebush appeared fairly untouched, except for two rather large bird poops, er, excreta, on a couple of leaves. Not overly surprising as our nesting phoebes frequently perch in that area. Surely they poop, er, evacuate, while stalking the insect population.

Brown-and-white blotches on the leaves,
probably left by an inconsiderate yardbird.

Upon closer inspection (a phrase I probably use more often than I should when discussing poop, but everything is a teaching moment with a four-year old) we discovered it wasn't excrement at all. They were caterpillars.

What appears to be the tongue emerging from the mouth is really
the caterpillar's head. If I were a predator, I'd think twice!

Caterpillars? Looking like bird droppings? On a spicebush? That all adds up to what we've been hoping for over the past three years: Spicebush Swallowtail larvae! Eating our spicebush! A feeling of euphoria settled in when I realized our plans worked, we attracted what we were hoping for. A grove of dreams, if you will: plant it, and they will come. Now I get what Kevin Costner's character felt like when Shoeless Joe Jackson walked out of the corn field to play ball.

All told, we counted three caterpillars. Butterfly Gardening and Conservation.com showed the two poop-mimics were likely fourth instars, judged by the size and the prominent eye spots. Second and third instars, while similarly patterned, are smaller and lack such obvious eye spots.

The third was a fifth instar, boldly patterned and gaudy, admittedly a bit frightening. My rudimentary knowledge of caterpillar anatomy didn't convince me it wouldn't lock its jaws on my finger, but I pretended to be brave in front of my daughter.

Possibly shedding the green skin for the
prepupal, bright yellow-orange coloration?

We're hoping to find the bright yellowish-orange prepupal caterpillar (check The Hawk Owl's Nest for Patrick's beautiful image from a recent trip), and then a chrysalis. Apparently we were lucky, as the caterpillars spend the day hidden by folding over a leaf, then emerging to forage after dark. Perhaps the rain brought them out early? We did find several folded over leaves, which we'll be investigating as we continue to check the spicebush daily!

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