Not such a mystery any more. The Giant Swallowtail caterpillar has now coccooned himself.It took much longer than I thought it would. Three to four days ago he stopped moving around the tree at all and sat near the base of the tree. He shrank a bit, and since there were only a couple of threads between him & the tree, I wasn't sure what was going on--was he spinning his cocoon? Dying? Dead? Were those his threads or Something Else's? I've never watched a single caterpillar this way before.
This morning, I found out what was going on: After the days-long delay, he finally finished the job over night & is tidily waiting for spring. I shall continue to check on him & still have some hope of seeing him emerge.
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