@entomoelliot submitted: Allow me to relay to you The Ballad of John Kielbasa.
4 weeks ago, a mystery caterpillar was dropped onto my lawn by a bird. He was weak, but still squirming, and so I brought him inside to ID. I dubbed him John Kielbasa: Birdwrangler, due to the near-fatal birdwrangling accident that brought him to me. Far as I could tell at the time, he was a white underwing moth. So I got him a lovely salad made from a variety of potential host plants, which he built into a tent instead. He used this tent to enter into a long slumber, starting on the 16th of june. I lined his jar home with paper towel so he would be able to climb and dry his wings, when the time came.
This week, I had begun to lose hope. Had he been fatally injured in the birdwrangle after all?
But then, tonight, I came up to my room where his jar sat beside my bed, and there he was: winged, fluffy, and surprisingly, pink! It turns out he is a betrothed underwing, but I love him all the same. And so, I brought his jar outside in the dead of night, and set him free. He flew into my maple tree for a moment, before flying into my face to give me a kiss, and then disappeared into the night.
And that, my friends, is the Ballad of John Kielbasa.
The world is his jar, now.
What an excellent story! I love John Kielbasa. Amazing he survived the bird and got to pupate! My fav photo is the fifth one where he’s peering out of the jar. Wonderful. Thank you for sharing! Hope he lives a good long moth life. :)
