Picture a spring or summer day in Kane County and you would find Janie Grillo patrolling milkweeds and scouting for monarch butterfly eggs or caterpillars.

The eggs are tiny, cream-colored ovals, slightly raised and barely bigger than the period at the end of this sentence.

And when the caterpillar emerges, it’s the size of a comma.

The Campton Hills resident protects vulnerable monarch caterpillars from predators, bad weather and mowers, safely depositing them in various containers.

She takes them home and to work at Midwest Groundcovers in St. Charles, where she shares their wonder with coworkers.

She feeds them, cleans their frass – that’s what insect poop is called – and watches as they transform from black, white and yellow striped eating machines into jade green chrysalises, made even more stunning with gold accents.

Once the familiar orange and black butterflies emerge, Grillo gives them a chance to rest and dry out their wings before releasing them.

“By July or August, I’m averaging 200 on hand at a time,” Grillo said. “I still tag them on migration. I didn’t for a couple of years when the population was low. Last year I tagged 75.”

Eastern and western monarch populations have declined more than 95% since the 1980s, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

“They’re so unique, so beautiful,” Grillo said. “I’m working to conserve them.”

Three to four generations evolve in the Illinois summer before the last one, in late August to September, begin their migration to Mexico.

Grillo started tagging in August 2003.

A tiny little tag the size of a pencil eraser goes on the underside of one wing. They are tracked as they arrive in Mexico, 1,700 miles from Illinois, to overwinter.

Two of her tags were recorded in Mexico, she said.

The challenge comes not only from predators and lawn mowers, but also from habitat loss and the use of herbicides and pesticides.

“There’s more private land and lawn area in the U.S. than in all the national parks in the U.S.,” Grillo said. “We have these little islands of nature areas here, or 5 miles down there. It’s so difficult for insects or animals to find food or mates or habitat.”

She encourages people to plant native gardens that include milkweed – the only plant monarch caterpillars eat, the only one where they lay their eggs – but also tries to spur the plant’s use in city parks and other public spaces to make it easier for monarchs’ habitats to link together.

The Monarch Joint Venture and the Illinois Monarch Project, two conservation nonprofits, as well as other naturalists, also encourage planting nectar-rich flowers to support adult monarchs, especially during their migration.

Quite by accident in 2020, Grillo also raised almost three dozen luna moths, one of North America’s largest moth species with a wingspan of 3 to 4.5 inches or larger.

“My son found a mating pair of luna moths on our porch, and I had all these little caterpillars,” Grillo said.

Luna moth caterpillars eat the fresh leaves of hardwood trees, so Grillo started them on black walnut leaves.

“They get as big as your thumb,” Grillo said. “I spent weeks feeding them.”

Unlike monarch chrysalises, luna moths make cocoons by wrapping themselves in leaves with their spinning silk to overwinter. The cocoons look like leaf litter, their camouflage before emerging in early spring.

When the adults emerge, they live seven to 10 days. They do not eat because they have no mouth parts or digestive systems. Their only function is to mate.

“I had 34 cocoons,” Grillo said. “I had them in the basement fridge next to the beer, Samuel Adams.”

Coworker and friend Maggie Balistreri said she has known Grillo for 25 years.

“She’s wonderful,” Balistreri said. “She is extremely easy to work with, very caring, plant-passionate and knowledgable in every aspect for natives, perennials and shrubs.”

As for her penchant for bringing her caterpillars to work, Balistreri laughed.

“People here at Midwest know more about monarchs than we ever thought we would,” Balistreri said.

Coworkers watch all stages of the monarchs, including the transformation when the butterflies emerge.

“It’s such a sight to see,” Balistreri said.