Great Egg-spectations!

Monarch egg on milkweed. J. Schaeffer

We're finding a lot of monarch butterfly eggs on milkweed this week.  That's good news,  considering that we've seen very few adult butterflies and caterpillars.  The eggs seem to be on the youngest, most tender of the milkweed leaves, close to the top of the plant.  Look on the underside of the leaf for a small white bump, about the size of the head of a pin.  As the youngest caterpillars eat, they leave a small crescent-shaped or round hole in the milkweed leaf.

Newly hatched monarch caterpillar. J. Schaeffer



We'll be raising the caterpillars inside the nature center during September, and tagging the adults when they're ready for their journey to Mexico.  This is the Methuselah generation, living for 6-7 months while the typical summer monarch lives for only about 6-7 weeks.  The monarchs we're raising now will fly to Mexico, over-winter there, and begin the trip back in early spring.  Come see our display and catch some monarch magic this month at the Willow Grove Nature Education Center.