The season for the Roston Butterfly House at the Springfield (MO) Botanical gardens ended the first weekend in October. I continued my weekly shifts.

On some of the cooler mornings in September, the caterpillars were the big show. Sometimes the skippers and hummingbird moths outside the house were more active. As the morning warmed, the butterflies in the house became more active and some seemed to enjoy sitting on people (including me)!

The large silkworm moths (cecropia, polyphemus, and luna) were not as available for display as during the summer months.

There was a very hungry tiger swallowtail caterpillar on a tulip poplar leaf; I made a short video.

My last shift was the Monday before the last weekend. The ‘stars’ of the shift were the Monarch butterflies (looking health and ready to migrate south), a black swallowtail caterpillar, and a luna moth (the last of the large species of silk moths we had to display).

I enjoy this type of volunteering…plant to do it again in 2026 and maybe do even more shifts!

My second stop on my way to the Missouri Department of Conservation Partners Roundtable was at the Runge Conservation Nature Center in Jefferson City. They had a great display of fall squashes near their entrance!

I chose to hike first…before I went into the building. I noticed a fall dogwood, milkweed pods with milkweed bugs, the path lined with trees (many redcedars), a stump with well-defined rings, and a honey locust (big thorns all along the trunk).