here’s a great video from Cornell that tells all about the hostile situation a Monarch caterpillar is born into on a milkweed leaf and the strategies it uses to overcome the milkweed plant’s defenses so it can gobble it up! http://www.cornell.edu/video/milkweed-and-its-insects/e446

Monarch butterflies are not only on their way but are showing up!!!  Here’s the latest map from Journey North which shows reports on May 2nd (Alexandria), May 3rd (Fairfax) and May 4th (Newport News).  And there reports of egg laying!! View the map here and the list of sightings here.  Post any Monarchs you see […]

Are you ready?  The Monarch Butterflies have left Mexico and are headed our way!!! You can read the report from Journey North here.  And watch the migration unfold as people like you and me submit their sightings! And so it begins! Or, I should really say – And so it continues — this relay of life!  As you have […]

Vol. 18 Issue 1, Spring 2013 by Meghan Meyers In the span of 12 short months, four generations of butterflies will emerge: great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, and offspring all in one year! The first few generations live just two to six weeks, dying shortly after mating and laying eggs. The fourth generation, the ones born in September and […]

Vol. 18 Issue 1, Spring 2013 by Nicole Hamilton Monarch butterflies, they’re our charismatic fliers, and our most recognizable butterfly. They’re the species that when asked, everyone knows the butterfly we’re talking about. We’ve been touched by them as children. We’ve enjoyed seeing them flutter through our neighborhoods in the summer. They are the long […]

Vol. 18 Issue 1, Spring 2013 by Mona Miller, aka “the Butterfly Lady” There are people in our lives who cross our paths once in a lifetime. Some of these people leave a part of themselves with us. They become our friends, and they enrich our lives before they leave. This is what happened with […]

Vol. 11 Issue 2, Summer 2006 Here in Loudoun, we are losing our grasslands and weedy roadside areas at an astounding rate. By creating monarch waystations, we help not only the monarchs but also a variety of other butterflies, as well as birds and other wildlife. Use Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy’s online native plant database to identify […]

Vol. 10 Issue 3, Fall 2005 By Nicole Hamilton  In the world of insects – specifically butterflies and dragonflies – it takes two generations to complete a round-trip migration. Adults migrate south in the fall and their offspring return north in the spring. Generally when people think about migration, they think of birds. Rarely […]