We have acres of milkweed in our pastures and woods. Great for monarch butterflies.

I have been searching all summer for a caterpillar or chrysalis, the pupa form, but with no luck.

So I resigned myself to taking photos of interesting milkweed pods, some of them smaller this year because of the drought.

And then I saw one! A monarch caterpillar in all its glory!

Can you tell which is the head end and which is the tail end?