You may remember Liberace.
Colourful, vibrant and vivacious. My caterpillar, Liberace.
A couple of weeks ago I showed you a video of Liberace as he was just hatching out of his shell. After a few weeks of eating, growing, eating growing, pooping, eating and growing, Liberace cloaked himself in a glittery chrysalis.
And a few days ago, he emerged. And I happened to catch it all on video.
And by “happened to catch” I mean I woke up early on the morning I knew it was going to emerge and sat beside the chrysallis for 6 hours until it happened.
Yeah he was late, and the opening act of a fly crawling across the counter was kindda lame, but when he finally came out, Liberace put on a spectacular show.
Nature. Gotta love it. It’s a complete freak show.
Learn more about Monarchs at The Monarch Project.
WOW. Truly amazing. Thanks so much for sharing this experience.
That was breathtaking! I feel like I just watched a National Geographic clip or something! I’m determined to plant a patch of milkweed next year for this exact reason. So lovely!
Beautiful music, incredible photography. I was enraptured. I’ve wanted to help save these magical winged creatures before I saw this, but you’ve given me a real sense of purpose. Thank you, Karen!
Thank you for this beautiful tender post.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Not just for the beautiful video, but for the project. What a wonderful thing to see. In the morning I’ll share it with my 5-year-old grandson. We believe in magic.
Beautiful video for a beautiful creature.
Beautiful
Spectacular! Worth every minute of the six hours you waited to capture it. The music was a beautiful match. Thanks for sharing.
WOW, I’m in awe. And the song was a perfect fit. The Secret Sisters are amazing. Love the song.
I have to make sure I leave the milkweed to grow in my field and hatch my own monarch. I love that you would patiently wait 6 hours to capture this little miracle. Amazing!
Thank you!!
I am speechless- as I am sure many of the followers of the Monarch Project are of this video. It really is magic. Thank you.
Black Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars were on my parsley this summer–saw one emerge and fly off, very beautiful. Thanks for this.
Stunning and amazing. As was mentioned, nature truly is magical. Such a beautiful video and the music was a perfect with it. Thank you for catching it for us! Go Liberace! Did you tag him for monitoring? ha!
Dear Karen! For some stupid reason, this video is not available in my country (Germany). Probably it is so because of the music you have used for it. As we have extremely stupid rules for youtube, I will never be able to show my kids how Liberace turned into a beautiful butterfly! Fortunately, I could show them, how he came out of his egg. (Eric Carle’s “Very Hungry Caterpillar” is a kids’ classic for German kids, too!) If there is any way to post the video without the music, my children and I will love you for the rest of our lives.
If we had monarcs over here, we would save them all.
Great job. Perfect pairing of wonderful video and music.
Go be fabulous, Liberace!
Magical!
Thank you, Karen.
Beautiful! Inspires me to try some filming — Science Rules!
BTW Liberace is a girl. Great video.
How can you tell?
Males have a fairly prominent black spot on their wings. Liberace didn’t have that.
For one thing the wing pattern is different Jody. I don’t have them memorized but that’s the easiest way to tell. ~ karen!
I forgot to check, lol. I don’t have the wing patterns memorized. ~ karen!
Great video! always humbling to see this spectacular show from Mother Nature…. thanks for sharing!
Wow! that was fantastic, thanks for that.
So beautiful! Good luck Liberace.
Amazing!
Thank you!
What a closeup! Amazing!
As I type, I am waiting for my fourth out of five chrysalises to open…we have released three gorgeous butterflies so far and have been able to share it with many friends over social media. Tons of admirers say they will do it next year – it has gone viral! Will send you a release pic soon. Thanks Karen!
Awesome video!
While I never found any eggs on the milkweed, I did have a monarch in my garden yesterday. I will let the milkweed grow and keep looking for eggs.
Oh honey. The loveliness.
Gratitude.
Thank you for sharing this. It was beautiful.
Absolutely fascinating, awesome and amazing!!!! Just sat here with my coffee and viewed this stunning miracle of nature. I also enjoyed the delightful music you chose …..so relaxing and calming. Karen….you are just as awesome as this beautiful butterfly….thank you for making my morning so delightful!
And I know this is off topic but I had a chance to view the article in Canadian Living magazine yesterday and your kitchen is as amazing as this elegant butterfly I just witnessed emerging from it’s chrysalis. I guess you can say your kitchen was a bit like a caterpillar turning into a monarch butterfly.
Ha! You’re right. 🙂 Never thought of it that way. Thanks Kelly. ~ karen!
Stunning. Maybe you can get a gig with National Geographic in your spare time. 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
Hey Karen!…you are amazing!
Jaw dropped, stunned. Wow, that was beautiful!
Uhh – maaaazing! I’m all misty over my coffee. Thank you for a beautiful and inspiring start to my day.
Hi Karen,
This was a great post! My sister-in-law actually owns a butterfly farm in Florida. They have a lot of fun and educational information on their website. You can even purchase butterflies for weddings, school events, anniversaries, etc. You can find their website at Shady Oak Butterfly Farm.
Amazing tiny little life that I would have missed without your camera – thanks for doing this and the music with Liberace opening his wings was perfect! Actually got misty eyes watching it unfold. THANK YOU for a gentle, beautiful reminder that all life is important to one life. What a glorious world we life in.
I watched it when I got up this morning. It’s a wonderful way to start the day!
I’m in awe of this tiny miracle. I can’t imagine what it was like for you to witness this in person. Thank you for making us aware of the Monarchs. So beautiful. Thank you, Karen.
How she’s all folded up inside the chrysalis! and then unfolds! – nature’s origami –
Karen, like so many others, I’ve put down my coffee to watch the miracle of Liberace’s birth. Thank you so much for patiently capturing it. Milkweed is a must in all our gardens.
Beautiful video, beautiful music and beautiful birth! I hope the monarch project does go viral because it’s becoming crucial. Here in PEI, the kingdom of the potato, I planted as many bird, butterfly and bee-friendly plants as possible, have seen one straggly cabbage butterfly, no moths at night, no bats, no honey bees and no swallows. They’ve all gone the way of the dodo bird on this wonderful, pesticide-laden island.
So very beautiful and gentle! Thank you m’ dear! Did you know Lee Valley carries a stop action camera for photographing nature?
Btw, I’m assuming you went to Christie last week and we can expect to hear/see all ’bout your new treasures?
Also, btw, I meant to ask if you got a tad misty eyed when Liberace flew away and left home?
I was going to go to Christie’s (of course) but ended up not going so I could get some stuff done around here. It’s more the Spring show I go to anyway, but I do love the fall one too! ~ karen
Beautiful! Well done! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if a very tiny camera could be placed on a butterfly. to follow it on it’s journey.
This is amazing. Thank you for sharing such an amazing video!
Thanks so much for the six-hour heel-cooling! We all appreciate it. What a lovely video. Music perfect! You are nice to us and we love you Karen!
Lovely. Thank you.
(BTW – Liberace looked like a monster monarch butterfly – obviously from all your hard work (and protection) – great work!)
Nature is art in it’s truest form and you not only captured it beautifully but you helped it on it’s journey. I applaud you and thank you. Did you hear that? You just received a standing ovation! Well done Karen.
LOL. Thanks Kat. 🙂 ~ karen
Welcome to the world, Liberace!
Amazing! Thank you for your patience and for sharing that with us!
Somehow………… the world seems a little more at peace after watching this.
I’ve never seen this before. It was beautiful. Thank you.
What a wonderful job of editing and choice of music. Oh, and the monarch did a pretty good job playing his/her role, too!
That is the most amazing “freaky” video. Thanks for sharing. Beautiful.