Am I Harming the Monarch Butterfly?

Over the past year I have been doing my best to help the monarch butterfly—both in our prairie, gardens and greenhouse. This summer was the first full season for the swamp milkweed that I planted in our greenhouse in 2018 and these giant plants definitely attracted the monarch butterfly to our greenhouse. This greenhouse has open sides which allows pollinators and butterflies (what few there are) to easily enter and exit upon their own free will.

The swamp milkweed in our greenhouse did it’s job. We watched over 20 monarch caterpillars turn into beautiful monarch butterflies. The last to do so was on September 17, 2020. Needless to say, I did a lot of photography and videography of these monarchs. This led to a number of YouTube videos that I have done on the subject.

The first video I would like to share with you is a Day Creek update video with what’s been going on at Day Creek and I do talk briefly about the monarch butterflies in our greenhouse:

The second video is a 4k resolution video entitled “The Making of a Monarch Butterfly.” This is a short 3-minute visualization of all the stages of a monarch: from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly. I think you will enjoy the beautiful transformation that takes place:

The third video is a lengthy video discussing whether allowing monarchs to be raised inside of a greenhouse or other structure may or may not be a good idea based on recent studies conducted by the University of Chicago, Kronforst Lab:

And finally the fourth video is a ten minute video in real time of a monarch hatch. Typically most videos are a time-lapse of monarch butterflies hatching and go much faster. I thought it would be nice to watch one in real time as to not miss any of the intricacies of the event:

I hope you enjoy these videos. It’s been an eye-opening experience watching monarch butterflies over the past few months.

— Alan Stankevitz