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Project Noah Nature School
It's definitely a swallowtail. It's hard to tell which kind because of the angle of the picture but it looks like it's most likely a two-tailed swallowtail. Also, the two-tailed swallowtail is the official butterfly of Arizona, where this one was spotted. http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Arizona/s...
Jellis, I agree, they are probably female mallards. The only reason I would doubt that is that I watched this group of ducks for about a week and there were none that looked like male mallards. These ducks were very wary of people and would not let me approach them. I have actually never seen ducks in the lakes of the blue mountains and I have been going there every summer for my entire life so I was especially curious about these.
I agree now that it must be a Spotted Frog. The map I was looking at was this one http://www.fws.gov/oregonfwo/Species/Dat...
Thank you guys for the help!
That is some amazing camouflage.
AshleyT, I thought that too, but it's out of the range of the Oregon Spotted Frog. Also this one was hopping around on a path near a meadow, not immediately near water. I will keep researching it, perhaps it is an Oregon Spotted Frog.
"13mm, green, armored tank/assassin bug-like body, with mantid forelimbs and a turtle head."
Haha, I love your description!
These are called Cinnabar Moth Caterpillars. They are not native to North America but Oregon Vector Control releases thousands of them each year to try to combat the invasive ragwort (ragweed) plant on which the caterpillars feed. They turn into pretty black and red moths, you may have seen them around. I live in Milwaukie and I see the adult moths from time to time. I have seen these caterpillars all the way up on Mt Hood too!
Wow, very rare!
