My wife, Mary Beth, was pruning the spent blooms from one of our Tree Peonies when she spotted this gorgeous Cecropia Moth caterpillar munching away on some of the leaves. I’ll be keeping a watch on this and, providing it doesn’t get eaten by a bird or attacked by Tachnid Fly larvae, hope to spot it’s chrysalis and maybe even the adult. That will take some luck. Lots of folks take these in and keep them safe until hatched, but I prefer to let nature take its course.
Please click the image for a larger version.
Cecropia are Giant Silk Moths and the larva is about as big as a cocktail wiener. Here is a link to the BugGuide.Net species page so you can see how beautiful these moths are. With a little luck I’ll post my own soon.
Stephen Gingold Nature Photography Blog 
A glorious caterpillar and an excellent image – what a find for a backyard bug!
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It was great while it lasted. Ended up in a pool of brown liquid which I guessed was the result of tachnid larvae feeding. I was really looking forward to witnessing metamorphosis.
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