BirdWatcher
Well-known member
This season, I decided to harvest and raise Monarch Butterfly eggs, taken from Common Milkweed plants in my meadow, as a means of interesting some of the neighborhhod kids in nature study.
I have a screenhouse erected in my meadow and turned that into a sort of insect study lab, with picnic table, chairs, sketching & journaling desk, optics magnifying equipment, and assorted enclosures such as aquariums, terrariums, reptarian cages, Petri dishes, gallon glass jugs, mesh pop-up hampers, and the like.
We are still awaiting our 1st Monarch Butterfly to emerge from one of the chrysalides, but in the meantime we have been having great fun observing the butterfly eggs, tiny newly hatched larvae, the rapidly growing caterpillars, the skin sheddign for the 5 Instar stages, and the appearance of our first chrysalis.
Here is my photo collage I'd like to share with you, showing those different development stages, from egg to chrysalia, from some of the digital photos we have been taking during our study.
Birdwatcher
I have a screenhouse erected in my meadow and turned that into a sort of insect study lab, with picnic table, chairs, sketching & journaling desk, optics magnifying equipment, and assorted enclosures such as aquariums, terrariums, reptarian cages, Petri dishes, gallon glass jugs, mesh pop-up hampers, and the like.
We are still awaiting our 1st Monarch Butterfly to emerge from one of the chrysalides, but in the meantime we have been having great fun observing the butterfly eggs, tiny newly hatched larvae, the rapidly growing caterpillars, the skin sheddign for the 5 Instar stages, and the appearance of our first chrysalis.
Here is my photo collage I'd like to share with you, showing those different development stages, from egg to chrysalia, from some of the digital photos we have been taking during our study.
Birdwatcher