Hey, kid with the net — Get outa here….
A month after releasing 199 hand-raised rare butterflies as caterpillars, about a dozen of the insects have emerged from coccoons.
So reports the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, which is trying to restore the endangered Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly, which favors prairie of the kind that was once abundant -- and is now pretty rare -- in western Washington, Oregon and British Columbia. The butterfly was listed as endangered by the state in 2006.
Think you've got one in your back yard? Here's what to look for, according to Fish and Wildlife:
The Taylor's Checkerspot is a medium-sized butterfly with upper wing surfaces of distinctive red-organge, black and cream colors in a checkerboard pattern. Like most butterflies, it has a short life span. Winged adults usually emerge in May, mate, lay eggs, and then die.
The caterpillars were raised at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, from eggs collected in the wild.
Interestingly, the agency says some of the state's best preserved prairie habitat is tucked away on sprawling Fort Lewis, the army base near Tacoma. The base is spending $1 million in Defense Department money -- and $2.2 million over 5 years -- to restore prairie habitat on land around the base, part of it aimed at helping the butterfly.