Can you guess what this is? Plus last week's answer and winner!

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** Monday Nature Mystery
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08/12/24

We are pleased to announce the winner of our most recent Monday Nature Mystery, Cees Adminsson! (Please email your snail mail address and preference for a hat or tote bag to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Monday%20Nature%20Mystery%20Winner) ).

Congratulations to Cees for identifying the Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus) caterpillar. According to Featured Creatures ([link removed]) , these caterpillars are solitary and develop through five instars. Immediately after hatching, caterpillars eat their egg shells (Opler et al. 2012 ). Older instars eat whole leaves and then sever the petioles to drop them to the ground (Tuskes et al. 1996) - possibly to obscure their presence from predators The presence of large larvae on branches overhead may often be detected by the presence of frass (caterpillar droppings) on pavement of driveways or parking lots.
Last Week's Mystery: Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus) caterpillar Photo: Judy Gallagher
Each Monday we’ll post a new photo and identify the previous week’s winner. They’ll receive an NVBA hat or tote bag.

Be sure to post your answer on our Facebook page @ ([link removed]) NVBirdAlliance ([link removed]) 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 ([link removed]) .
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 @ ([link removed]) NVBirdAlliance ([link removed]) under this week's Monday Nature Mystery. Remember, we only accept entries from our Facebook page, not via email!

Good luck!

-Northern Virginia Bird Alliance

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 instead of 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. If you have already won twice, please let newer people have a chance and refrain from answering first.

Know someone who might enjoy our Monday Nature Mystery series? Forward this email on!
Enjoy the Monday Nature Mystery Series? Please consider supporting NVBA so we can continue to bring you educational (and fun!) programs like this.
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