Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar

(Danaus plexippus)

I really had to do a lot of looking around this year to find any of these.  Finally I found two in the same patch of Milkweed.  It's alarming.  They used to be so common around here.  I'm really worried now about the Monarch Butterfly population and with good reason.  Monarch habitat is being destroyed by land development and the use of herbicides in croplands and their numbers are plummeting.  Please check out this link if you'd like to learn more or help out in any way!

www.monarchwatch.org/