Martha Coleman’s home in Montavilla has turned into an unlikely butterfly refuge over the last few months after she caught sight of an increasingly rare monarch in her yard.
Why it matters: Monarchs — one of the most iconic and recognizable butterflies in the world — have seen precipitous declines in recent decades.
Coleman and her partner were leaving home July 24 when they noticed a flash of orange among the milkweed in her yard.
- She snapped a photo, posted it on Facebook and was quickly inundated with comments and messages from experts telling her this was the first documented sighting of a monarch in Portland this year.
Zoom in: One particular comment, which said the butterfly appeared to be laying eggs, caught Coleman’s attention.
- “We searched every day and ultimately found 51 eggs,” she told Axios. “They’re like little jewels, very symmetrical and beautiful.”
- Coleman set up enclosures and nursed the eggs through their caterpillar stage into their chrysalises, and she watched as 25 full-fledged monarchs emerged from their cocoons.
Context: The monarch population has declined by…