Caterpillars in the Blooms

Ranging in size from barely visible to the naked eye to a quarter inch long, we discovered 7 caterpillars in the buds of the Milkmaid milkweed today.  


The other day we discovered a stem broke off one of the plants and found a dozen caterpillars on it as well.  Most were a half inch long, but one was only an 1/8 inch.

If I managed to correctly count every one we found so far, we have 13 caterpillars in the 1/8 inch size or less and 11 at least half an inch long.   Apparently we missed seeing the full scope of the eggs and didn't realize how early we started getting them.

Of course this is just the beginning of the fall migration season....