Monarchs!!!

Besides the honeybees Monarch butterflies fascinate me. With their yearly migration from Mexico to Canada, which takes four generations of butterflies to accomplish, and the fact that the caterpillars feed only on milkweed, they are amazing creatures. Over the past 25 years their number have declined alarmingly due in part to the spraying of herbicides to control milkweed in corn and grain fields. Here at the homestead I leave milkweed grow almost anywhere it wants to. I've been watching all summer hoping to find Monarch caterpillars feeding on them and today I was rewarded, finding 3 different caterpillars. Just a grain of sand on the beach compared to the millions that have died, but I take comfort in knowing that I've done my part in trying to stop their decline.