A bunch of Monarch caterpillars
August 16, 2025
wildlife, lepidoptera, observations, milkweed | permalink
My daughter alerted me to a butterfly on our back patio and told me to come see it. It was a Monarch, flitting around the milkweeds planted there. I'd also seen it there not too long ago, when I thought it might be laying eggs. I don't know how soon Monarch eggs hatch, but decided to check the plants for any sign of caterpillars, and counted 13 of them, a bit smaller (I'd say between 1/4 and 3/4 of an inch long) than the first one I saw just over a week before. I haven't yet checked the front patch again, where there are many more plants, but so far I haven't found any out there.
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