We are pleased to announce the winner of our Monday Nature Mystery, Seth Finkel. (Please email your snail mail address and preference for a hat or tote bag to [email protected]).
Congratulations to Seth for identifying the caterpillar of the Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor). According to Birds&Blooms, Pipevine swallowtail eggs are red-orange with small bumps, laid in clutches on their host plant pipevines. The caterpillars are gregarious in their early days, which means they hang out in groups feeding together. When they get a bit bigger, they tend to go their own way. As the pipevine caterpillar grows, its appearance starts to change as well. It slowly becomes darker and has more pronounced dots of color and longer black tubercles on the front of their heads, which look like antennae.
These caterpillars use their tubercles actively to feel out the world around them. These are some of the fastest caterpillars I know; they take off quickly when startled and move with surprising speed.
Each Monday we’ll post a new photo and identify the previous week’s winner. They’ll receive an ASNV hat or tote bag.
Be sure to post your answer on our Facebook page @AudubonVA under the Monday Mystery post...do not reply to this email with your guess! We only accept entries from our Facebook page, not via email.
Please remember to write the common name, being mindful of hyphens, uppercase and lowercase letters and always include the Latin name in parentheses. To learn more about bird names click here.
Who is this? Photo: Judy Gallagher
This week’s Mystery: Who is this?
Post your guess (please list both common name and Latin name) on our Facebook page @AudubonVA under this week's Monday Nature Mystery. Remember, we only accept entries from our Facebook page, not via email!
Good luck!
-Audubon Society of Northern Virginia
Please note that we only accept entries on our Facebook page where they are date- and time-stamped. Remember that, if you need to correct your entry, you should make a new posting rather than correcting the old one so that we get a correct time stamp for your correction. Winners are limited to one prize every 90 days, maximum 2 per person.
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