Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Hanging by a thread




Two Saturday's I dropped my younger daughter off at camp. Afterwards I took a drive up to Mt. Chocorua just to see if I could get anything good for pictures, plus it's just a beautiful area.

As I walked from one side of the dirt road to the other, at the small parking area and bridge at the base of the lake, I happened to notice this little worm hanging in the breeze over the road. It must have dropped down a good 6-8 feet from the tree above.


Clicking on any of the images to get a better look



The dirt road is very small that runs along the foot of the lake but I kept hoping the worst wouldn't happen. Sure enough within a few minutes a car came driving through. Did I dare look?



It was still swinging in the breeze when I left : )



After doing a little research it appears this is a Looper Caterpillar. When frightened by a preditor, such as a bird, they will actually bungee jump from a thread connected to their body to escape. After hanging in mid air for a minute or so the Looper will slowly climb back up the thread.



22 comments:

Kerri Farley said...

How neat! I saw one similar to this over the weekend!

Hula Girl at Heart said...

What a lovely fellow. Wouldn't that be a nice trick to be able to bungee jump out of sight when someone we didn't want to see came ambling by?

Anonymous said...

Oh gosh, Sharon... this guy has me laughing this morning. Just so dang cute!

Snappy Di

Laura said...

Well, you learn something new everyday!

Eve said...

Nothing like a good breeze Sharon!! Very fun post.

Unknown said...

Bungee worms! cool beans! ; )
xxooo

Carolynn Anctil said...

He's pretty darned cute. And tenacious!

Dog Trot Farm said...

See, you learn something new every day!

Cindy said...

Great post. I hope he/she made it back up to the tree. I ran into something like that the other day but it was brown. Happy Tuesday.

The Retired One said...

I think I did this at work once. ha
Too cute that you noticed this little catepillar in the first place!

Anonymous said...

Cute little caterpillar!!! You don't seem to miss anything!!! I wonder if I would have noticed him??? :)


xoxoxoxo
Donna Marie

Bernie said...

WOW, I am amazed you even saw it let alone get such great photo's of it.....good for you Sharon.
Have a great day.....:-) Hugs

Glenda/MidSouth said...

Learn something new everyday - thanks for the lesson. I have seen some similiar to that hanging down over my courtyard, but did not know anything about them.

Country Girl said...

Love learning all this stuff!

Beth at Aunties said...

I love that you do the research on these incredible creatures you capture.
Wouldn't it be great to be able to bungee jump from all the problems of life? I ahve been working all day to move dad into assisted living as soon as possible back where he has been living as an independant. They said they LOVE him there and want him home! For the extra 700.00 more a month it is worth him feeling the love. It is over 4000.00 a month! ;-)

Sandy@American Way Farm said...

How cool is that? I've got to learn how to do that - just drop out of sight when the need arises.

Elaine said...

Aw, so sweet you were concerned about the caterpillar's well being.

They really do adapt don't they?

Jayne said...

How cool! Hope he made it back up into the trees!

Dan Huber said...

great shots, love the fact they are bungee jumpers :)

dan

Shelley said...

What a great capture and perfect timing! I have this urge to yell Geronimo!! :-)

Dawn Fine said...

hee hee..
as long as I dont run into those darn things..i dont mind them hanging there..
nice shots!
I finally have internet connection..nothing for quite a while..but now we are in Montana at my sisters..wifi..
yippee
so i am going now to catch up on your other posts
see ya

Judy said...

So that is what they are!! I have seen them before, but never done the research...
I doubt the car would hit the caterpillar, because it is so light weight that it would swing with the air going around the car.