Pollinator Post 9/14/23
Since I reported about Blue’s disappearance many people have e-mailed me with well wishes for the caterpillar. I am deeply moved and somewhat surprise that a little caterpillar could have this kind of emotional impact on us. After all Blue was a very sedentary creature, almost never away from its silk pad during the day. No daring-does, no drama, just living its quiet life. Yet Blue has touched the hearts of so many. I love Blue for its stillness and steadfastness – qualities we all aspire to in the core of our being. I still feel awkward having to refer to Blue as “it” in the narrative, but I had little choice as it is impossible to tell a caterpillar’s gender. In retrospect, Blue has been living its wild life, totally unaided. I have not been taking care of Blue in any tangible way, merely observing its development and behavior. There’s no reason that we have to worry about its survival. Blue is well equipped, through millions of years of evolution, to deal with the travails of caterpillarhood, and transition to life as a butterfly. I have full confidence that Blue will do just fine out of our sight.
I have good news. Read on.
The air quality has improved significantly this afternoon. I bolt out the door and head to Skyline for a walk to clear my mind. At a little past 5 pm, the hills are socked in with fast drifting fog. I don’t expect to see any insect and simply let my legs lead the way. I find myself heading up the paved road from Siesta Gate. At the top of the ridge just past the Radio Tower, I decide it’s too cold and turn back. Almost unconsciously my eyes scan the hillside to the west of the road looking for coffeeberry. Why is there a dearth of this native plant in this wild park? Then I spot a Coffeeberry shrub in the shade of a tall Eucalyptus tree, surrounded by an abundance of Poison Oak and Coyote Brush. There appears to be a bird dropping on a leaf facing the road. I quickly scramble up the slope and examine it through my macro lens. Sure enough, it’s a tiny Pale Swallowtail caterpillar that is a bird poop mimic. It is the same instar as Blue and Cinch when I first found them!
The caterpillar has prominent shiny bumps (technically scoli) across its mottled brown body, and an eagle-shaped white marking across its mid-section, just like Blue and Cinch used to look. It is probably a second or third instar already. I’ll call it Bumps.
Amazingly, Bumps is not even hiding. It is in full view, on top of a leaf on an upper branch, its brown body contrasts strongly with the green background. Bump’s safety relies on the inability of others to see things as they really are. So often we misinterpret reality, our perception entangled with our past experiences and memories. Bumps and the other bird poop mimics clearly reveal that weakness in us.
Side view of Bumps shows that it is resting on a silk pad that it has woven on the surface of the coffeeberry leaf. The underside of its body is already a little bluish. Wow, it will probably molt and change out of its bird poop costume soon. One more Pale Swallowtail caterpillar to observe and love!
The universe works in mysterious ways!