Twig mimic and tiny garden monster

[lisa...@peak.org]

Today while uncoiling soaker hoses to lay out in our community garden plot, I found a strange caterpillar on the hose.  It was over 2 inches long, the largest "inchworm" we have ever seen.  It was a perfect replica of a smooth gray twig, complete with a leaf-bud shaped head and constrictions along the body that made it look very convincing.  In a valiant effort to look like a twig, it held its body very rigidly and tucked in its head and six true legs to complete the illusion, while holding onto the hose with its prolegs...though it didn't blend in to the hose very well.  I tried to look it up, and it may be a geometer moth caterpillar in the genus Pero, but if anyone knows what it is, please let me know.

 

Don noticed that something was scuffling around under the leaf litter in a neglected garden plot next to ours.  We guessed that it was a shrew, but it wouldn't come out from under the blanket of leaves.  I decided to sit in the leaves and wait, and the shrew worked its way under the leaves to a place where the soil had been turned up with a shovel.  It went into a cavity under a clod of dirt, and I managed to get some pictures of it as it emerged (although there were a few leaves in the way).  I felt pretty fortunate to get such a good look at this little critter as it paused very briefly during its nonstop hunting.  I believe this is probably a Wandering Shrew (also called Vagrant Shrew) because of the habitat it was in.

 

Lisa Millbank

www.neighborhood-naturalist.com