Spotting

Thorin's advice is wise. Looking is good, particularly if you are taking steps forward, and doubly so if you have big hobbit feet ;-)

Okay, Neil. What you describe is basically how I find all my ID suggestions. I have a ton of bookmarked sites on various organisms and locations, but on the others I do what you suggest. Browsing the internet I saw where you could upload an image and then search for similar images online. I assumed, incorrectly, that is what you were suggesting. I follow Thorin's advice to the dwarves in The Hobbit: "There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something." Thanks Neil.

That's excellent, Nicolle. Glad I could help. Just tell your nieces that tomatoes love to eat these caterpillars ;) This is also how I recognised your spotting caterpillar: https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/22...

My nieces will be impressed!

I think it is a cabbage looper! It’s movement was like that.. arched it’s body high then extended for next forward advance. Thank you very much! Next time I will look more closely to identify body markings like the characteristic white stripe.

Tukup, no program. Your browser will default to a search engine like bing or google, etc. I use google as my search engine. For example, if you are looking for info on green caterpillars, just type that in. The response on google gives you options for all info on applicable sites, including images, news, videos, etc. A lot of my spottings will include this type of search, particularly the bane of my life... fungus! I do recommend you purchase a malware product though. This sort of browsing can have you stumble into infected sites. Malwarebytes blocks these sites, and it's not the site's fault. They've just been infected.

Nice shot Nicolle. Nieces and nephews can be soooo picky :-) And for Neil, you've mentioned "image searches" before. I had no idea of what you spoke. Looking online, it seems you have to download a program. That always scares me. Can you recommend a good safe image search program? Thanks. And thanks again Nicole for sharing a foto of a speedy caterpillar. I, too, have never seen one that moved very fast. And I'll side with your niece on this one. I'd like to know it's identity too :-)

Nice spotting, Nicolle. What sort of movement was this caterpillar making? Similar to that of an inch worm? This could be a cabbage looper caterpillar, perhaps something like Trichoplusia ni? http://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te-... Or just do an image search and it might uncover something for you. Did your nieces come up with a better suggestion?