Interest

Monarch Butterflies

Last year during a visit with my parents I was given a swan plant seed pod which sparked an interest in Monarch butterflies. I planted the seeds and ran through the standard routine of getting them to grow without really expecting very much. The seeds germinated and grew into what looked like weedy bamboo and suddenly the prospect of having Monarch butterflies flapping around the backyard was looking more realistic.

This interest has sort of grown along the way as I watched butterflies laying eggs, caterpillars hatch, grow and form chrysalli. I decided to photograph what was going on so I could see them progress from little stripey caterpillars, to big (and somewhat chubby) stripey caterpillars, to butterflies.

The following photos show the caterpillars in various stages.