Strangely enough, about a dozen or so are clear. It's almost as if something has sucked the juice right out of them. I snap a few pictures with my camera. While looking through my 100mm lens, I notice a small insect moving slowly across the eggs. It looks like a wasp that is barely much larger than a pinhead.
Braconid wasps are notorious outlaws as far as butterflies are concerned.
They steal the life from butterfly eggs and caterpillars by parasitizing them. This female wasp is probably laying her eggs inside of those of the Mourning Cloak, thus denying life for the butterfly but ensuring that her lineage will continue. Already, nature is taking control. The eggs have still not hatched. Fortunately, the study site is only seventeen miles from home.