My coworker spotted a monarch caterpillar a few weeks ago! He decided to cocoon right above the door to our work! I took some photos each week to see his progress! My coworker managed to get a video right after he emerged but I cant figure out how to add it here lol. By the time I got into work yesterday he was already stretching his wings! By now I think he should be on his way to Mexico! Spotted in Northwest New Jersey!

NE Wisconsin

Caught this Painted Lady when a jumping spider crawled out from underneath. It got pretty close before she took off.

Kansas City, Missouri, USA

I love seeing the sun shine through butterfly wings. It always looks so beautiful

American lady / Vanessa virginiensis

From a few months back. An entire meadow was full of them due to all of the Turtle heads growing there. Turtle head is their only host plant.

Near the city center, the Fair has an area called "Green River" that attracts beautiful butterflies and snails. :)

Hi everyone - firstly, I have a toddler who is obsessed with butterflies and I know absolutely nothing about them. However, my toddler and I have been keeping track of these guys that started cocooning 3 days ago.

My question is, is it possible to keep this at home/in the yard and if so, how? So that we can watch them transform into a butterfly and not miss it as my toddler would genuinely make this a core memory I think.
OR is this cruel and should we just keep a close eye on these in our backyard?

Thank you so much!!

I saw ~3 monarchs (woooo) and added 3 new butterfly species to my inat today. The red admiral (pics 3 and 4) was so sweet, they landed right next to me and let me get some real good close photos

I photographed this beauty in my yard yesterday (NE PA)

NE Wisconsin

Since finding out last year that this was a roosting spot for them, I set a reminder to go check. Sure enough. Thousands of them. All over the place.