Voracious beauty . . .

[earthmother45]

I have a large Desert Rose in the back mound. I have noticed from the house over the last few days that it wasn’t blooming like my other two are and the green leaves were disappearing. I took a closer look at it this morning and discovered about a dozen Oleander Caterpillars voraciously chowing down on what was left of my beautiful Desert Rose

Comments

[gordongirls]

You have such exotic, tropical creatures and plants -- I have never seen most of them.

[earthmother45]

Sometimes I am surprised by what I see. When we first moved to Florida, I soon found out we are often called the Lightning, Tomato, Strawberry and Bug Capitol of the world!

[seekerval]

Wow! That's a caterpillar I've never seen nor heard tell of before. Same with the moth. They're interesting looking for certain.

[earthmother45]

That they are! Florida is known as the "bug capitol of the world" and I sure do believe it. I've seen insects, etc. here that I never thought could be real. And so many.....they just don't die (freeze off) like a lot of other places. At first I was quite freaked out by them, but now I guess I am just so used to them, they aren't that big a deal. But there are a few I am really repelled by and I draw the line of non-tolerance in the sand with them. They better not cross that line! :))

[kabuldur]

I was going to say, I did not know oleander caterpillars ate other things! But it is a different kind of bug altogether. You sure live in an interesting world!

Oh, and your temps are similar to mine. Very enjoyable :)

Your woodpeckers are intriguing for sure. Maybe the Red-bellied Woodpecker lets the Little Downy do all the hard work and then take over. And maybe they are having babies. Wouldn't that be exciting?

[earthmother45]

I've read where some woodpeckers get much pleasure just from pecking and making holes. That might be the case with the Downy doing all the work.

Yes, I hope that is what's going on with the woodpeckers...having babies!

[kabuldur]

Well, that's nice to know. - that the Downys enjoyed making those holes :)

And let's hope that babies are coming along!

[msdazy03]

Don't love bugs, but the caterpillar is kinda pretty