Ping
While the pupae look like pod people wannabes and the hornworms themselves are dis-gus-ting, they hatch into hummingbird moths. Too bad we can’t have the moths without the other stages! The moths are quite interesting to watch—they fly just like a hummingbird and are about half the size of a hummingbird but larger than a bumblebee. They usually come out early and late, and sometimes on cloudy days. If you see a hornworm with little rice looking grains all over it, don’t squish it. Get it off your tomatoes, certainly, but put it in the woods or something. The rice thingys are parasitic wasps that use the caterpillers for a buffet.