Yesterday’s lacy skeletonized leaf was so popular it sent me back into my chaos files to find this sun print or cyanotype I made of a leaf skeleton years ago. This particular leaf was 8″ long from tip to petiole end, so you should click on this image to make it fill your screen at life-size or better.
Leaves can be skeletonized by any number of hungry insects, particularly caterpillars. They just like the tender green bits and not the veins; I think we all had peculiar dietary demands when we were young, too. As long as the leaves remain relatively dry, they may last as these ghostly frames for quite a while. If you search on the web you can find ways of skeletonizing leaves in the safety of your own home with chemistry, but then you wouldn’t be surprised by masses of dark-eyed juncos, and woodcock careening away from you, and a raven crying out above you, as I was on Sunday when I found the leaf pictured yesterday.
Backyard and Beyond 
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