School Garden Caterpillar Growing and Growing and Growing

Just before school let out for the summer, I took one last look at some of the creatures attracted to the school garden. There were several Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars and some eggs on the garden's fennel plants. Fennel and dill are hosts plants for the caterpillars. This is what they eat. I brought one of the caterpillars home and have been having a blast feeding it and watching it grow from a tiny squiggly thing to a plump, colorful, fully-grown caterpillar. Any day now, it will become a chrysalis, so stayed tuned!

CAM CRAZY!

Tasfiya just gave me an update on some of the cams I've written about in earlier posts. According to Tasfiya, Kaloakulua, the Hawaiian albatross, fledged on June 24. That is about 148 days after hatching. Kaloakulua will now spend the next 3-5 years traveling the open oceans before returning to land.

And one of the three baby hawks at Cornell was injured after it fledged on June 14. While resting on a nearby greenhouse, it's wing was caught when an automatic vent opened up. The hawk has had surgery and is doing well.

If you want to check out some other cams, click here. This site is featuring, among other animals, a snowy owl and her six chicks nesting in Alaska. What's nice about Alaska is during summer the sun doesn't set until some time after 11 pm so there's plenty of time to check in on the chicks.