Monarch butterfly on milkweed flower
Click any of the photographs on this page to go to my Smugmug gallery with over 50 of my photos of the entire life cycle of the monarch butterfly, starting with the eggs that a butterfly lay on the milkweed plants in our garden on March 20, 2009.
Monarch egg on milkweed plant
We left most of the eggs on the plants, but brought some inside. We kept them until they emerged, then released them. Generally, the cycle from egg to butterfly takes about a month. The first caterpillar emerged from its egg on March 26th, and they had all emerged by the next day. See photos of the empty egg, and of the caterpillars. By April 11th the caterpillars were about an inch long, at their third or fourth instar (that’s the stage between sheds of their skin). The first caterpillar pupated (turned into a chrysalis) on April 18th.
Monarch butterfly chrysalis
On May 1st the first set of chrysalises started to turn dark, and then their wings started showing through the chrysalis, which meant they were getting ready to emerge (eclose). May 2nd, near midnight, the first butterfly emerged! Over the night to the morning of May 3rd, five of them emerged.
Monarch butterfly emerging from chrysalis
The last two emerged on May 4th, and we released them during the day. All gone, hopefully to lay more eggs on milkweed to continue the cycle ….
Monarch butterfly on milkweed