As the year draws to a close, creatures prepare for winter.

Monarchs, Gulf Fritillaries and other migrating butterflies head further South.

Swallowtails hunker down in their chrysalises, and silk moths in their cocoons.

Some moth caterpillars, such as the black-and-red Woolly Bears, seek out sheltered spots. Changes in their internal chemistry allows them to survive even deep freezes.

Red-Spotted Purple caterpillars, which feed on black cherry, create hibernacula, small tunnels at the end of cherry leaves where they will spend the colder months.

Spiders and praying mantises fashion enclosures for eggs that will hatch in spring. 

As you ready your garden for winter, keep these creatures in mind. Don’t clear the ground of the leaves that shelter caterpillars and cocoons. Look for chrysalises, hibernacula and eggs when you’re trimming back dead plants.

What looks like a stray leaf snagged on a stem may have been carefully secured there to hide a sac of eggs. There’s a whole world out there that by design is hard to see.

Wait and watch.