Ruth, a monarch butterfly raised by Anna Agell, in Agell’s yard. Ruth was named after Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Agell says. Agell has been finding – and helping along – so many monarchs she resorted to naming them to keep track of them.

Agell at her home in Brunswick last month. Agell has become a mother of sorts to monarchs in their various stages.

Agell finds eggs on milkweed plants in her yard, brings them into her home and protects them as they grow and change, then releases them as butterflies.

A monarch caterpillar in an enclosed habitat at Anna Agell's home. Agell has coaxed 15 monarchs along, from egg to caterpillar to flight so far in the summer of 2018, "considerably more than I have ever found before," she says.

Agell holds up the lid on one of her larval enclosures to get a better view of the chrysalis hanging from the top.

A monarch egg on a milkweed leaf that Agell found in her yard in Brunswick.

Anna Agell holds an instar monarch caterpillar at her home in Brunswick.