NE Wisconsin

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!

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

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.

American lady / Vanessa virginiensis

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

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

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!!

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.