Using a macro lens on an iPhone and a whole lot of patience I captured a detailed video of a Monarch caterpillar as it emerged from it's egg. And it's AMAZING.
That's right. A Monarch Project Update. I've decided to make this whole saving the Monarchs project official with its own dedicated space on The Art of Doing Stuff and catchy title.
For those of you who took it upon yourselves to raise a Monarch butterfly, I've come up with The Monarch Project. A little endeavour to raise awareness about how the Monarch is in decline and how easy it is to raise one to help ensure the species lives on.
If you wanna raise a Monarch (cause they're way easier to raise than kids) you can see all my tutorials on it here.
Yeah, I know. Sounds very humanitarian, save the world kind of stuff. The sort of thing Angelina Jolie or George Clooney are likely to be interested in.
That's enough about that.
I wanted to update you on my own Monarchs. At this very moment I have a tiny 2 day old caterpillar, a 4 week old caterpillar and a chrysalis. I brought an egg in for my sister who wanted to give them to a friend to raise. However that friend was busy the weekend the eggs were to hatch, so we left them here and I hatched them. Well, technically I didn't hatch them, I mean I didn't have to squat over them or anything. All I really had to do to ensure they hatched was not throw them on the floor and stomp on them.
I took a peek at the egg a couple of days ago and I could see by the way it was dark at the tip that it was seconds away from hatching. So I grabbed my iphone, the egg and the milkweed it was on and ran outside.
I managed to get a video of the entire thing. The caterpillar nibbling its way out of the egg and emerging for the first time into the world.
Here it is. Even if you don't want to raise a butterfly, this is a great video to watch. I felt very Wild Kingdom doing it.
Monarch Caterpillar Emerging from Egg
Join the Monarch Project. Learn the whys and hows of raising a Monarch butterfly.
Wanna know how I got such a close up video on my old iPhone? I happen to have a few jewellers loupes for some reason. It's from back in the day when I was a jewellery thief. I ran back inside and got one and just put it in front of my iPhone lens when I was shooting the video.
It worked great. I have a little macro lens that slips onto my iPhone but it wasn't letting me get close enough to the caterpillar. That's when the idea of the loupe came to me. All of this transpired in about 1.2 seconds by the way because I knew I didn't have much time or I'd miss the whole event. And by now we all know that an event not captured on video is only imaginary.
Which is why I proposed all cameras be banned from George Clooney's wedding.
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Shawna G
Karen, we are thrilled you are doing this. I have done this every year for about 6 years with my kids. The past two we have not had any luck finding eggs or "tiny pillars" as my littlest one calls them. This year at the apple orchard we found an egg, one small caterpillar and one slightly larger. We brought them home and were pleased to see Freddie and George eating and growing. And finally little Karsyn emerged from her egg. The kids were ecstatic! Sad to say, George and Karsyn didn't make it but Freddie grew and grew. And tonight we watched and video taped him going into his chrysalis. It was so cool. We can't wait for him to emerge!
marilyn
wow that was so sweet , i felt very emotional and that song!! i loved the whole thing..well done Karen well don!
deb
This was beautiful.....as are you !
Lani
I used to call Santa Cruz, CA home...as well as thousands of Monarch butterflies. They would sit so thick up in the trees, and you would think the breeze was weaving in an out of the tops, but actually, all of the "orange leaves" and movement were the butterflies. I wonder what they look like now? I had no idea they were in decline.
Melissa in North Carolina
Wow, so amazing. Thanks for the trouble it took to share with us. Wow. Next season I will be doing the same. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. and delivering so beautifully. Loved your musical selection, Happy Birthday!
You are amazing.
kate-v
Lovely video of the hatching, thank you. Also glad that Cuddles is still holding her own.
Alicia
So I got on livemonarch.org as Amber suggested and bought seeds (they aren't free but very inexpensive). I will plant them next year and this fall look to find eggs in the wild. Thanks for the great post Karen. You are quite the Renaissance lady! Kisses to Cuddles.
Bols
Ever since you posted the original post a week or two ago, I have been checking every single milkweed I came across but I failed to see any eggs. Maybe they are all the wrong variety?
Marion
Great video! Thanks for sharing and starting this project.
Ev Wilcox
Oh, Ellen, umm, I meant Karen, thanks so much for the video! You have strengthened my resolve to raise Monarchs. Twice I have had the honor of having a cloud rest at my home, once each in two different places we lived. Maybe they were trying to tell me something! So I must find and grow the proper milkweed and see about getting the "seeds" to grow the most wonderful butterflies ever! Thanks again!
Amber
Some notes on monarchs: have at least 3 full grown milkweed plants before you bring a caterpillar over. Each cat will eat 10-14 leaves. You dont want baby to starve!
Don't touch the egg or the baby cat: the slightest pressure could damage it's internal organs.
Monarchs are one of the top pollinators of crops. Imagine losing the honey bee; losing the monarch is second for bad.
Try livemonarch.org for lots of facts and free milk weed seeds.
JeannieB
Bravo! What a fantastic video! Great idea to use a loupe.
My young granddaughter found an egg on my few, precious milkweed plants, pulled off the leaf and came running into the house with it, to show me. A minute later, there were tears. The egg had fallen off, into the grass. So, we're one Monarch down. Lesson learned. Leave them alone. Mother nature knows what she's doing.
Karen
You mean leave them alone, outside JeannieB? Cause in this case Mother Nature really doesn't know what she's doing. Eggs in the wild have a 1% chance of surviving if left outside. Whereas it has close to 100% chance of living if you bring it in and raise it. (Oh! And if the egg fell off, it probably wasn't an egg. Those things are stuck on the leaf like cement) ~ karen!
Ruth
I had been wondering about the absence of this post.... since I already watched the video on the day it was posted to your YouTube channel. :-D
I am glad that Cuddles is no worse, so the the only way to go from here is up... and don't tell me otherwise. Cheering her on over here.
[By the way, we finally got some rain worth mentioning. A bit of 'spin-off' from Tropical Storm Cristobal who is currently en route to Bermuda, after killing three in Hispaniola (Haiti/Dominican Republic) and wreaking havoc on the infrastructure in the tiny islands above. He didn't come our way but the system was wide enough that we could benefit from the glorious liquid.]
Carla
Felt like you should play the music from Rocky as the caterpillar struggled to get out of the egg.
Karen
Went with Happy Birthday. Rocky would work too. :)~ karen
Jean
That's a really great video. Very inspiring. At our Minnesota State Fair, I watched a presentation on the Monarch and Milkweed. We have a program at the U of M designated just to the Monarch. I am very motivated to help. I like in the video where you mention that we used to see them all over when I was a kid. I noticed many years ago that I wasn't seeing them anymore, or not often anyway. Thanks for the video, I will be sharing!
April
Cool video! I tried to grow a monarch....found the caterpillar, she ate, she grew, she hung and started to turn
Green, but had a funny black dot on her and then nothing, she died :( I think it was oe spore. Want to try again but can't find an egg or caterpillar. Hopefully next summer.
Phyllis Kraemer
Great Video...thank you!
Karen
Thanks Phyllis! ~ karen
Caroline
On the hunt for milkweed this week! When do the Monarchs start to migrate? Is it still early enough to find an egg and raise it to adulthood?
mayr
I think you are a magnificent human.
Karen
Oh my. Well, thanks Mayr. I'm actually kind of sarcastic and blunt. But I can be magnificent too, lol. ~ karen!
Deb
Perhaps the sarcasm and bluntness just exudes from the magnificence....like a body can only hold so much. In any event, I'm pretty sure we all think you are magnificent. I remember "growing" monarches as a kid with my mom's help. Apparently, she was far beyond her time....who knew??
Beckie
There were't any eggs on the milkweed I let grow near my yard (I think because of reading here a few years ago that it was the only thing Monarchs eat) but I do have a swallowtail caterpillar happily munching away on my parsley =)
Really cool video!