Butterfly Mamas

Today the kids and I were enchanted by a Gulf Fritillary butterfly laying eggs on our passion vine. We were able to see the eggs! I thought they would be too small but they were clearly visible. She was laying those little guys everywhere both on and around the passion vine, which has sprouted all over our front planting bed. (I can't weed the run away sprouts now, darn it all.) We already have a ton of the orange caterpillars and I had to move several of them that were on non-passion vine plants. I didn't actually touch them even though the internet tells me they won't sting; they are scary looking! I either pulled the leaf they were on off the incorrect plants or used a piece of mulch to transport them to the passion vine. Another problem with that little mama butterfly is that she was laying eggs on little sprouts instead of the main vine, little sprouts that won't support a caterpillar for very long, let alone the massive numbers she was spreading around.

I can see "Caterpillar Mover" as a new entry on my resume...