Polyphemus moth caterpillar

Haha Carol, yes it does!

Looks like a cactus.

Ha ha, yes it does look a little strange from that perspective!

First time, I was thinking its a flower!

Thanks Annalisa!

Thanks Ismael!
Carol, mine are just over 2" long & quite heavy. Only 2 leaf in the tree now as one has vanished & I have another in a jar in the garage superglued to a stick (it fell off the tree onto the ground!0

Fabulous work Karen!

Great macro!

I think I might have some cocoons of these. R they they really fat and heavy ones? I have about 3. Might get a net to go over them. I LOVE THESE PHOTOS! HA!

Thanks Carol! I will do!
We now have four fat cocoons in our maples so hopefully I will finally get to see the moth in the spring! I'm thinking of bringing one in & with luck I might even get to watch it emerge!

U should definitely enter this in the best wildlife photo

WOW! Looking thru your older stuff. This is one of your best series ever! And one of the best series I have seen on Noah so far! Great job!

Emma, thanks for your lovely comment!

great work as always! :) It is difficult not to become attached !

Thanks Christiane! I have become strangely attached to these little guys - I'm just hoping this one manages to survive predation & hopefully I will get to see a polyphemus moth at some stage!

WOW.. great photos..

Today we are down to just one caterpillar. No sign of any cocoons so it looks like the others have fallen prey to hungry bluebirds.

Thanks for the additional photos!

I've added another photo to show how it uses it's front feet to grip.
Today I found 4 of these guys all on the same small maple sapling we planted in the spring. There isn't much cover for them so they are likely to be picked off by the bluebirds or run out of food soon.

Yes, he is a big fat juicy guy! He has hidden himself well in the leaves of one of my maples but I fear he will end up as one of my bluebirds' dinner! I'm almost tempted to bring him in & see if I can raise him.

Great photo series... I think I may have seen one of these today (do they live in the west?), but it was in really poor condition. Anyway this one is lovely!