Monarch Monitoring Project: Nearing the End of September

Monarchs: 3 Jenny: 0

Compared to last weekend’s great flight, this weekend was a little slow. And, I swear, the Monarchs that were here were very anxious little fellers. I snuck within a few feet of them and they flew off…leaving me to run around the yard and swoop with my net to try to capture just one Monarch. I looked absolutely ridiculous. When not missing butterflies with my net, you might find me in Circle Park, dead-heading flowers, trying to motivate the flowers to bloom just one more time before fall truly sets in. And I acquired a new occupation: direction-giver extraordinaire. Yep, that’s me: Jenny Howard, biologist, butterfly girl, and Cape May tour guide. Yep, the lighthouse is right over there. Yeah, just drive down that road and head toward the lighthouse.

Since it has been a slower week, it has allowed me ample time to think. And I have realized, we have one month until Halloween. Wow! It is already the end of September. And it is never too early to start preparing for Halloween! So I wanted to give you all some costume ideas. And I guess I have some secret desire to embarrass myself, also. I admit, I have been a Monarch dork for a long time. Ever since first grade I have reared the caterpillars in cages. My grandmother had an old farm with many acres of abandoned fields and we could go there for a day and my sisters and I would come back with hundreds of caterpillars. Watching hundreds of caterpillars munch through milkweed and transform to butterflies is an amazing thing. And it inspired my Halloween costume for several years. Below are some pictures of some wonderful costumes that my mother helped create (okay, let’s be honest, she did most of the work). So, you could be a bird for Halloween. Or you could be a dragonfly. But, let’s be honest here, the coolest thing you could be for Halloween is a Monarch butterfly or caterpillar.