Earlier this summer I was outside feeding the goats when I noticed a very pretty white and black moth resting on one of my fence posts. The fence post has quite a bit of moss growing on it, so the moth really stood out. It seemed to be resting and wasn’t interested in me or the hungry goats, so I ran inside for my camera (I had broken my own rule, always have your camera handy!).

I realized as I took pictures that this particular moth was a female since both her front and rear wings were white (males have yellowish rear wings). I had been thinking that the fall blooming wildflowers out by the goat pen had attracted her since the adults eat nectar. Once I realized that she was a female I wondered if she hadn’t also been laying her eggs. The females lay their eggs in clumps on the bottoms of leaves to protect them from the sun and rain. Those eggs hatch out in a short time as little fuzzy brownish or orangish caterpillars.

I had been seeing quite a few types of caterpillars in the leaves of the plants lately, so it made sense to me. The salt marsh caterpillars live on the bottoms of the leaves where they were hatched. They eat the leaves and later make a cocoon out of leaf fibers and their own hairs. They go through the winter inside their cocoon, and finally when spring comes they break out as young moths.

The salt marsh moth is just one example of how well animals in nature manage to give their young just what they need to survive and thrive.