Monarch caterpillar, Miner

This morning found me at my old haunt, the Miner refuge in Stonington, where I'd spent parts of 2013 and 2014 working on a survey of vernal pool life, as well as butterflies, dragonflies, and whatever other critters happened to be around when I was there. As usual, it was not as focused a study as it should have been, but my camera focus, at least, was spot on. I needed to get back there to see how the refuge was faring, and I was particularly interested, this time, in checking out the wildflowers and lepidopterans, with an eye towards possibly leading a public nature walk in the August. If I needed convincing that there was plenty to observe, this Monarch Butterfly caterpillar, happily munching on Common Milkweed, certainly did the trick. Throughout my "formal" informal survey work, I never found one of these gaudy and gorgeous larvae, although I found, starting just past midsummer, at least a handful of adults, most of them probably migrants about to head south to Mexico. But this one is different: a sign that the adults coming north met at Miner and laid some eggs. Praise be! And it's also a sign that we'll be walking here next month.