Photo of the Week: First-of-Year Monarch Caterpillar

What an incredible surprise I had this weekend when I saw my first-of-year monarch caterpillar munching on swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) leaves in my backyard garden. It seemed early to me, but I haven’t tracked caterpillars in my garden journal. (Changing that now!) Earlier in the week I noticed some milkweed leaves were munched on, but didn’t find any caterpillars. It seems only a few weeks ago, May 16, when I saw my first monarch butterfly on one of the swamp milkweed plants in my front yard. The butterfly stopped briefly on the almost six-inch tall plant before flying off. I thought it odd since there were few leaves on the plant. I’ve since learned female monarch butterflies use their feet to “taste” a plant. When they “taste” milkweed, they lay their eggs (sometimes several hundred) on new plant growth. From what I read, when a monarch caterpillar (also known as larva) hatches, it goes through several molts over two weeks and grows to almost three inches long. Which…