It was absolutely pouring when I got up, and I thought about cancelling the public walk I was scheduled to lead at the Preston Nature Preserve. But the sun came out—sort of—and I didn't really have any way to call it off, so I headed up north to the refuge. There was a persistent light drizzle, and, pulling into the parking lot, I had one taker, an old friend who came for "moral support." And a good, though short, trek. The highlight of our abbreviated journey was a single Monarch Butterfly caterpillar, now, as near as I could determine, three days old (bottom photo). The top picture shows the kid about 24 hours after hatching, as the tiny larva has mowed the "lawn" that graces the Milkweed leaf surface and nibbled a series of holes to minimize the flow of Milkweed latex, a sticky substance that can actually drown a caterpillar. The shot below shows the progress the larva has made in munching on the now milk-less leaf, the sole source of its nutrition. The caterpillar has certainly grown several fold, and it's easy to see its lurid coloration: a warning sign to birds to "Stay Away!" With any luck, the signal will work and the youngster will keep munching until, less than two weeks from hatching, the Monarch is ready to pupate and metamorphose into a hard-traveling adult.