One stubborn caterpillar

While dumping brush in an out of the way brush pile, I spotted a bit of white fluffy out of the corner of my eye. Looked more closely and saw this.........




It is an American Dagger Moth, not unlike Krissy's Wild Cherry Moth from a recent post. This gal has five long narrow black hair pencils, whereas Krissy's had nine. So I thought that this would be a great subject for a post, especially where I don't find these very often and had so recently posted a photo of the other similar caterpillar. Isn't it interesting what a striking rear she has? I don't know about any of you, but I certainly wouldn't want that kind of attention seeking rear!




So, towards the end of getting a good photo of her, I proceeded to take her off the branch and onto a better background for the contrast to really showcase her beauty. Put her on the driveway, figuring I'd snap a quick shot and then return her to her perch on the pile of brush.

Did not happen. She went into a curled up ball position.




Well, that's okay, that's what the Woolly Bear caterpillars do, go into a ball when in a stressful situation. Brought her inside, gave her a new background for her shot, and I waited for her to walk around and get straigtened out for that perfect shot. And I waited , and I waited............




As that didn't work, I thought if I put her in a bug container she would walk around and get straightened out and ready for my camera.




Which she did. See, you can get an idea of her beauty as she started to get more straight.






So I took her out for that picture I was now getting more anxious to get over with and here's what she did..............




Well, was I going to give up on this gorgeous specimen. You bet your bippy I was not!! SO I decided to give her a little help with her pose.



This is the first pose I got.



And she held that pose, refusing to give me the shop I was looking for.




I tried one more time, figuring that she must be warming up to me by this time. Now remember I was dumping off brush and planning to get on with my work, and had become sidetracked with this gal, so I needed to get on with my day, but she and a soon to be found new friend, had other plans. Tried another position.....




This is all I could get, then my eye caught another movement, be it ever so tiny on a nearby plant.




This is what I found. The tiniest little caterpillar on a mint leaf! I took a look, couldn't identify it, but since I was in photographer mode, thought I'd get her photo also. She had been on the bottom of the leaf, but it was very easy to get her up on top for her first shot.




You can see here the contrast in their sizes, and my ADM (American Dagger Moth) gal is still in her tight ball, while this new babe is happily, and very easily showing off her full size!




And she quickly cooperated with a great close up. She was too tiny to be able to identify, and decide not to stick around very long. She escaped out of a small hole in the bug jar overnight!





As you probably guessed bu now, I finally gave up on my perfect shot. But I did get more photos from time to time. Thought it very cool to be able to get a few shots through her container, here seemingly yellow under the white furry hairs.




Here you can clearly see the five pencil hairs, and you can almost make out the yellow coloring underneath.




Got this shot of an almost straight pose quite by accident.




Took her out for one last attempt at that pose, which was NOT going to happen. But here you can see her turning a greenish hue. As she was getting sluggish, I decided to keep a closer eye on her.




She soon started to change into her cocoon. She enveloped herself in a silky see through cocoon initially.




Then shrunk a bit before losing her hairy outer covering.



As she was developing under the corner of a leaf, her cocoon did not get too thick.




And she finally transformed into a brown hard shell form, where she will spend the winter, and then become a grayish brown moth in the spring.