Juicy

As I was walking out of the wet kitchen towards the lime bush after lunch, I noticed the tell-tale signs of another caterpillar - little round droppings. I looked closely at the periwinkle plant and true enough, there was one fat, juicy caterpillar. And then I noticed two more caterpillars munching away happily at the periwinkle leaves. Can you spot all three caterpillars in the first pic on the left? I thanked my lucky stars that I never brushed against the plant on the way to the lime plant. Ewww...

Second pic on the right shows a caterpillar in the process of discarding its waste. It's a lovely shade of green and resembles a six-petaled flower. I was at the right place at the right time to shoot such a shot. I had noticed another caterpillar pooping and looked at the one closest to me. As luck would have it, it had made a U-turn and was heading down the stem. I stared at its behind with eagle eyes. And suddenly, it's butt-lips parted and produced the poop in the pic. It can crawl and poop simultaneously! The ultimate in caterpillar coolness. (Yes, in a way I think that these caterpillar pix are my way of deterring my sister from checking this blog if she finds it *evil grin*)

Actually, the third pic on the left preceeded the poop pic. It had reached the end of the plant and was reaching out for the next non-existent branch to crawl on. After several seconds of stretching, it made a U-turn. I took a shot which ended up blurry (it was on the lower part of the branch and I couldn't get into position).

Fourth and final pic, I blew at caterpillar #2 and it curled its upper portion to reveal two false eyelets. I have to say that it looks kinda cute curled up like that. I can almost hear it say, "I'm shy!" I also bugged caterpillar #3 by using a dead leaf and poking its side. The immediate area I touched with the leaf flinched/winced, and so I poked it again, but in its lower regions. And that part flinched too. It seems that caterpillars are ticklish. Or maybe they hate being poked in the imaginary ribs (like I do when my real ones are poked).

Well, that's it for today. Maybe more caterpillar pix tomorrow! =)

Take care, all!