Inch and a half worm

As I came back from a short hike yesterday, this little fellow came along for the ride. I put him back into the high grasses after taking this picture. Click on the picture for a detailed closeup.


Near the bottom of the hill there are a lot of milkweed plants expelling their seeds. This one was particularly bushy. Each seed is attached to its own tiny cluster of silky down that serves as its own parachute. Unfortunately the other grasses are growing so tightly around each plant that most of them don't get to fly very far. I took a handful of the seeds and their down to the barn. In the spring I'll see if we can get them to grow so I can plant them in more areas of the property. I'm thinking of it as growing my own monarch butterflies.


Here's a nice link to the Kid Zone web site about milkweed and monarch butterflies.