I was out with a group of Avalonia Land Conservancy folks this morning at an area known as the Peck Preserve to examine the after-effects of a management project to encourage the spread of the imperiled New England Cottontail rabbit. The technique involves cutting lots of trees and creating a shrubland, and while the immediate impact is not-so-pretty to look at, the woods heal pretty fast, and several years out, there's lot of diversity... although, as near as anyone can determine, no New Englanders yet. But other species have moved in, including Common Milkweed, which likes the sunshine in the open area. And with it, I've seen lots of Monarch Butterflies, which seem to be on the rebound. As I combed the plants—Milkweed offers habitat to a number of insects—I spotted a young Monarch caterpillar. You can't really miss these colorful marvels, and as it started dining on it favorite plant, I watched it and wished it good luck. From this youngster will come the migratory adults, beginning in early September, and I hoped its passage to the hard-traveling generation will be easy.