Insect-o-rama
/I was at the Master Naturalist table at the Insect-o-rama last Friday. It is an annual event held at the Springfield Conservation Nature Center, but this was my first year to volunteer there! It was an evening event on a heat advisory day, so I was very happy to be inside the air-conditioned building!
Our table had vases of trees with caterpillars. There was a sign for the Io moth caterpillars on sassafras leaves because they can sting.
There were several instars of cecropia moth caterpillars on black cherry and a goatweed leafwing caterpillar on goatweed (too large to role a leaf around itself).
My favorites of the evening were some young oakworm caterpillars (on oak leaves) that got agitated…and danced! They calmed down (or got tired) and were relatively still for the rest of the evening, so I showed visitors the short video I was lucky enough to capture.
There were several tables of insect collections. I remembered the one I made when I was in high school….and that the teacher asked to keep it! I didn’t think to take pictures of it at the time....over 55 years ago.
The families that attended were interested in everything and many went home with luna month caterpillars to raise (they eat sweet gum leaves). The event was well-attended but not overwhelming! Enjoyable for attendees and volunteers.
