Yup, monarch caterpillars are still here

Mama monarch keeps visiting and laying eggs, and another generation of monarch caterpillars is thriving on the potted milkweed.

Our biggest worry is that our milkweed plants are diminishing as the hungry caterpillars devour every leaf. And since it is already mid-August, some of the plants are drying up, going dormant.

Hopefully there will be enough food for the remaining caterpillars.

Currently I counted ten monarch caterpillars that actually survived through second instar.

The caterpillar above is resting on the side of a stone in a pot of milkweed.

This little one is probably in its second instar stage.

Now this healthy caterpillar was moving like an acrobat in another pot of narrow-leafed milkweed. It climbed up and down stalks of the plant, sniffing at and nibbling on leaves on other stalks.

Shortly after I took this photo, the caterpillar was very active, crawling up and down the stalks of dandelion plants and tall blades of grass.

Somewhere in our garden it is now a chrysalis.

I haven't seen it yet, but hope that all is well.