How can you hate a caterpillar and love a butterfly? You can't. Some gardeners so love their passionflower vine (Passiflora) that they squirm at the thought of a caterpillar munching it down to nothing. But that's what caterpillars do.
We all take shortcuts. We look for the shortest line at the supermarket, we use keyboard shortcuts, and we text how r u? So, why shouldn't honey bees use shortcuts? They do.
When a monarch butterfly comes fluttering through your yard, grab your camera. Marvel at it beauty, celebrate its presence, and keep it in your memory. It may be become an endangered species the way things are going.
Butterfly expert Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, isn't feeling so well--to put it mildly--but he still went out on one of his butterfly monitoring expeditions today at his study site in North Sacramento.
Do you have a little land to spare, such as a quarter of an acre or up to three acres? For honey bee habitat? The Pollinator Partnership, as part of its U.S.