Help, they are making quick sticks of my columbine. But I don't want to kill them if they are a butterfly

@mellielong do you know what these little caterpillars are?

No.

Thank you. But I'm in Michigan

Perhaps most likely columbine sawfly.

Editing to add links (couldn't do it from iPad):
http://www.ppdl.purdue.edu/ppd...
http://www.extension.umn.edu/g...
http://bugguide.net/node/view/...

Compare your caterpillars to duskywing & spring azure butterfly caterpillars. I can't see them well. Those are the 2 kinds of butterflies I could find that would use Aquilegia (Columbine) as host plant.

Thanks Tiffany, I'd been wondering as well. We have lots of Azure butterflies here, so I'm betting on that one. I just pulled my "sticks with flowers" out of the highly visible areas yesterday, and replanted them in the infirmary area.
They didn't eat up every plant, but the ones they chose were picked pretty clean.

Have you checked for sawfly larva? These little flies lay eggs early on my Northern Lights azaleas and hatch in about a week. They start out very tiny but can do significant damage because there are so many of them. Nearby columbine can be affected as well.

It is columbine sawfly. And I do find all my columbine out front affected. I sprayed some Sevin on the really bad one. But I well get some insecticidal soap later and use on the rest. Thank you all for your quick help

Ack! I finally located an image of the adults, and I did see them in and around the worst-hit area last month. Too bad; I like those wee blue butterflies and wouldn't have minded the loss as much if it were them.

Ugh! I'm glad it isn't the little azure butterflies, and glad to have this knowledge -- now I just hope I don't need to use it! So far the worst thing I've had on the columbine is leaf miners...

(Jennifer, you're near the west coast of L. Huron... )

Jennifer, if you haven't already bought the insecticidal soap, a better solution might be some Bt - Thuricide is the brand name that comes to mind.

It's a naturally occurring bacterium that makes caterpillars get sick and die, but doesn't kill off every other bug it hits. Just the caterpillars that ingest it.

Good advice, Elaine -- and that reminds me, must go buy some myself (saw my first cabbage butterfly today)!

Look for what looks like black pepper on the leaves or the ground around the plant..this is caterpillar poop and the best treatment is B.T............. if you want...
I want butterflies so no B. T for me.
Sequoia

I just went around and hand picked the little buggers. Hopefully that will help enough for the plants to survive

It sure can't hurt, Jennifer!

FYI, we have an insect ID forum for questions like this. I'd also appreciate if people stopped tagging me every time they see what they think is a caterpillar.

dyzzypyxxy said:Jennifer, if you haven't already bought the insecticidal soap, a better solution might be some Bt - Thuricide is the brand name that comes to mind.

It's a naturally occurring bacterium that makes caterpillars get sick and die, but doesn't kill off every other bug it hits. Just the caterpillars that ingest it.

Bear in mind that these are sawfly larvae not caterpillars, although they resemble cats (distinguished by number of prolegs etc.) so Bt won't work.

Sorry Melanie! I just know you are passionate about butterflies. I didn't mean to bother you

That's interesting, Sue. Thanks. I thought that anything that ate the leaves with the Bt on them would be affected.

@sequoia Appreciate your point of view there, but I'm sure none of us indiscriminately spray Bt all over our yards. I have many butterflies in my yard, yet I do use Bt selectively on plants that are affected by certain caterpillar pests. No butterfly host plants are ever treated.

This one posed for me just yesterday: