The Tiniest of Tuesday...

Although this is not the prettiest picture, it was the clear choice for today's blip.  Not only does it fit the criteria for Tiny Tuesday but it is a behavioral shot that I've been hoping to catch.  This is a freshly "hatched" monarch caterpillar who is consuming the egg casing it just emerged from.  You would need a magnifying glass to see this with the naked eye since the caterpillar is less than 1/16 of an inch (.15 cm), probably more like 1/32nd of an inch, really.  And the egg ... well, it is about the size of the ink spot your ball-point pen would make on a piece of paper.  

When I was checking the milkweed this morning and realized what I was seeing, I raced back inside, grabbed the tripod and put an extension tube on my macro lens, hoping to get the action before the egg casing was consumed.  Luck was on my side and, after a huge crop and a little fiddling with exposure, blip in the bag.

You might wonder about such a strange behavior, but they do this to help avoid detection by predators.  They will also consume the skin they shed when they turn into their 2nd instar form in a few days.  I've got four tiny little "new borns" in their own enclosure and I am promising myself that they are the last batch for the year...  All this by way of warning you that you are not done seeing monarchs in their various life stages this year.  By the way, yesterday's handsome male spent the night on the lantana and, once the sun had warmed him this morning he took to the skies - a beautiful sight to start the day.

Feeling much better today - finally took some allergy meds which have me back on track.  Should have done that on Sunday.  Eh.  

Thanks to Osuzanna for hosting TinyTuesday this week.  

Debbi