Butterfly Excitement, Part 1
—We have a Monarch Caterpillar! 😍
For the first time EVER, Hubby & I spotted a 😍😍😍 Monarch Butterfly caterpillar 😍😍😍 on one of our Milkweed plants!!! Excitement plus!!! This was one of those times when I thought Oh, yeah, that’s definitely going to be my Perpetual Journal art this week!
When we first discovered our new little friend it was only 1/4” long, but we could already tell that it was a Monarch, not a Queen, larva. How could we tell, you may ask? The answer is: Monarch larvae have only two sets of tubercles (the pointy things that look like antennae, and are actually sensory organs) and Queen larvae have three. Yes, even at 1/4” long we could see the tubercles. Here’s our Monarch larva friend in my Perpetual Journal:
Our Monarch larva friend was on a newly purchased Milkweed; we suspect that the Monarch egg had been laid at the nursery before we purchased the plant.
Hubby & I were amazed at how large the Monarch larva grew in comparison to our Queen larvae! Like our Queen larvae friends, the Monarch larva was a munching machine, chowing down on our Hubby-and-Paula provided Milkweed plants!
Here are my photos of a Monarch Butterfly larva and a Queen Butterfly larva, shown to scale and highlighting three main differences:
Size: The Monarch larva is much larger than the Queen larva (the Monarch larva grew to about 2” long x 3/8” wide, while our Queen larvae have grown to about 1.5” long x 1/4” wide).
Patterns: Although they both have beautiful (fact, not opinion! 😍) black-and-white-and-yellow stripey patterns, the patterns are distinctly different.
Tubercles: As I mentioned above, Monarch larvae have two sets of tubercles while Queen larvae have three. Also, the Queen tubercles can have a pinkish tinge at the base.
As an additional note, referring to my 2024 and 2023 Perpetual Journal art above, we’ve had NO Desert Blue Bells and NO Penstemon blooming in our yard in 2025—we assume because it’s been so dry! ☹️
💭 Comics Corner
Here’s a fun Half Full comic about caterpillars (one of which looks like a Monarch caterpillar!).
More Yard Excitement!
Hubby & I have already seen 🤩 15 Queen Butterflies 🤩 eclose (emerge from their chrysalises) in our yard just in 2025!!! Go GO GO!
Even More Yard Excitement!
Both yesterday morning and this morning Hubby & I saw a 🥰 Bobcat stroll through our patio, walk around the edge of our house, and then nap in the shade of one of our rainwater harvesting tanks! We noted that from its resting place it had a good view of some Harris’s Antelope Ground Squirrels! Maybe the Bobcat was contemplating a snack? 🙂
All this yard excitement shows that:
“You don’t have to go to Africa to enjoy the wonders of nature; they’re all around us.”
- E. O. Wilson
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Love this, and your perpetual journal is amazing. How does one start a perpetual journal? What a great idea! Thank you!🙏
How exciting!!!!!!!