Photo Journal of a Monarch’s Life Cycle with Commentary

Over the last 20 years, I’ve acted as a conservationist and advocate for Monarch Butterflies. Professionally, I am an Environmental Educator. Here are some of my favorite photos.

Monarch Butterflies Mating. © Photo by author. All Rights Reserved.

Mating

Since life cycles have no true beginning or end, you can start where you’d like in exploring them. I chose to start with mating monarchs. This is something I had never seen during my twenty + years of monarch conservation until I took the photos in 2020. High in our maple tree on a late summer afternoon, these two monarchs were mating. The result of procreation for this species? Eggs. There are female and male monarch butterflies. They are easily identified by a knowing eye. The males have a black dot on each of their hind wings — supposedly these are scent glands that help with drawing the attention of the female (Source).

The Egg

Monarch Eggs. Photo by author. All Rights Reserved.

Female monarchs lay eggs on milkweed plants. Usually, I’ve observed these on the underside of the leaves. This serves several functions, most of which are protection —…