Ahhh,

Nothing says spring like the SQUISH of a juicy caterpillar, or the sudden SNAP and flow of green sticky juice from a bloated aphid, or the CRUNCH of a Japanese Beetle.

Enjoy!,

Rob:)

Too bad you don't have the whole pic of it, Baldo would like a pic of it probably on the rose. I know it's a monster, but it's beautiful, must be beautiful in a moth form too. Terrific pic and I feel your pain, I fought these last summer, or my own version of rose slugs and budworms. I take them and feed them to the 100's of toads who have arrived now, I get a lot of satisfaction from that:)

Baldo might like this one of the tent caterpillar. Check out the rose thorns!

{{gwi:287745}}

Am I the only one who sees little penguins waving their flippers on the first caterpillar? LOL.
Talk about close ups! That's a great shot. It really is a gorgeous creature; too bad it's such a pest.

Oh, is that what they are! I thought they were little Chinese dolls (also waving). :-)

Hey, I just found out that first caterpillar isn't a Gypsy Moth. It's a Forest Tent Caterpillar. Not that it matters insofar as my roses are concerned.

Gypsy moth caterpillars aren't especially blue. They are primarily black with some tent caterpillarish striping, but not the blue. They also have a preference for oaks, although they'll eat damn near any tree or shrub when they have a population explosion.