
“Dear PoPville,
We have been slowly converting our front yard into a native plant-scape…and it is finally bearing fruit (of the insect kind)! We noticed a lone monarch butterfly flittering around the milkweeds and a couple of weeks later saw that something had been nibbling the leaves. We turned over a few and, lo-and-behold, we have caterpillars! They are super tiny and our son is checking on them every morning. We’ve noticed lots of other pollinators as well even though it is early in the year: a black swallowtail, sulphurs, honeybees, sphinx moths, and even a hummingbird moth (all on moss phlox).

There are some great DC native plant nurseries if folks are interested. Bona Terra has a pickup location in Petworth. You can also participate in the Monarch Waystation program to create more habitat and also get a slick yard sign.

Let’s get more monarchs in DC so these
aren’t lonely!”
If you spot a hawk, any interesting wildlife or celebrity skateboarder Tony Hawk, and get a good photo please send in an email where you spotted them to [email protected]. Thanks! Hawks around Town is made possible by a generous grant from the Ben and Sylvia Gardner foundation.