Thankfully this week's prompt wasn't difficult to find a response - only because of all the rain we've been having. We are overcoming our drought and some of the landscapes are looking closer to normal (although many trees and plants did not survive). Saw this guy and a few of his friends hanging around an abundance of greenery - searching for the perfect spot to form their chrysalis and change to monarch butterflies. Here's my green & my luck - feeling lucky that we found them and they are a sign that things are slowly returning to normal (as long as the rain continues).
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| 4th stage instar, monarch caterpillar - will be making his anchor thread soon |
My kids were with me when we found these caterpillars; in a very public (tourist) place - sure hope they survive - the monarch population has been suffering as well (loss of habitat). This image reminded us of our recent past - we had a monarch waystation in our backyard... we raised monarchs and tagged them at a certain time of year for tracking to their over-wintering habitat in Mexico. Our waystation was destroyed in a hurricane several years ago, and got busy/caught up in daily activities and never recreated it. We didn't realize how much we missed watching, feeding, monitoring them and other insects that found their way to our backyard, so we talked about replanting a small portion of our yard to attract the monarchs and others. I will definitely keep everyone updated on our progress - we haven't dug in the dirt in a while and although I know I'm going to be extremely sore (that seems to be the story of my life lately), I can't wait to get started!!
The University of Kansas developed the Monarch Watch organization many years ago - their website contains very interesting information about tagging, creating habitats, biological information, and a shop where you can purchase books and other items that are monarch related or decorated. I hope you'll check them out at
Monarch Watch - and even better - plant a few nectar and/or host plants among your other flowers - it is very easy to help out these beautiful insects.
Linking up with Focus 52 at Two Scoopz - click
here to see other images of green or luck.
UPDATE: Forgot to include camera/lens info in the original posting: 105mm macro lens, slight cropping otherwise SOOC
