Red Admiral Butterflies

It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's ....it's..... a Red Admiral Butterfly migrating to the north! By the way, I bet a billion butterflies you didn't know that Red Admirals often migrate with birds, other types of butterflies and even bees! A caterpillar of this species builds a protective shelter for itself by weaving the edges of a nettle leaf together with it's silk to form something that looks like an ice cream cone. Then the caterpillar crawls inside and eats half the leaf. By the time one-third of the leaf is eaten the caterpillar is ready to shed its skin. The caterpillar repeats the process several times until it is ready shed its skin again. Then the caterpillar is too big to fit and makes a larger shelter by using it's silk to weave lots of leaves together. After it sheds its skin a fourth time, it is ready to become a pupa. Two to three weeks go by. Then the butterfly is ready to come out. It spreads it's wings and flies off.