A Monarch Year

Last year we saw almost no monarch butterflies at all--and we were not alone: numbers were down all over the region. This year, while not a spectacular year, the numbers are quite respectable. Sightings are reassuringly regular, and yesterday, finally a monarch caterpillar on a milkweed!



Once again, it was my neighbour Nancy who spotted this caterpillar and gave me a call (see Night Flyers for the cecropia caterpillar Nancy alerted me to).

Monarch butterflies are not the most co-operative subjects. After much time spent trying to get an open-winged shot, I settled for this one.



According to this site the main threat to the monarch butterfly is habitat loss in its winter range. But the least we could do in Ontario is take the milkweed off the "noxious weed" list!