Willa and I were walking today and on the way back through the yard I came upon THIS
HUGE caterpillar ... 
who at first glance might have been a Wooly Bear Caterpillar except for his size and the lack of an orange band. He was easily 3 - 3 1/2 inches long. When I picked him up he curled into a ball and I saw the red/orange stripes on his skin.
Sadly I am without a caterpillar/butterfly field guide (but hey, my bithday is coming who knows?)so of course I went to the internet.
E-nature had nothing that looked like this except the wooly bear, so I had some searching to do.
He is a Giant Leopard Moth caterpillar ... and I can truely say I have never seen this moth on our property or anywhere else, but now I will be looking!
The best write-up I found was on the Hilton Pond site ... and the embedded photo is borrowed from this site. Go take a look.
Posted by sunybank at November 25, 2007 09:08 PM
