Float like a butterfly,
we all wish we could.
These pretty little insects do so much good.
Loved by flowers and humans alike,
this is the story of a butterfly’s life.
Once upon a time,
Margaret found a hungry caterpillar
in her parsley patch.
She raised it up into a butterfly in her kitchen
and knew she had found her passion.
Today her love of nature and metamorphosis
has crowned her the title of
the Butterfly Lady of Fire Island.
Her main mission in life is
to make more butterflies,
one egg at a time.
Each day she combs the milkweed
searching for and gathering eggs.
In the safety of her kitchen,
the egg and its host plant are placed in a jar of water.
Each jar is carefully labeled,
tracking the number of eggs,
the date harvested,
and the due date.
That is a lot of butterfly birthdays.
Inside these tiny little eggs,
even tinier larvae are nourished by a yolk
until they’re ready to hatch.
While they start small,
caterpillars go through several stages
or instars.
As they get bigger and go through each stage,
they shed their skin,
revealing their special markings.
Isn’t that cute?
Throughout all of these stages,
caterpillars have one purpose:
to eat
and eat
and eat.
And while it’s a well-known fact that
caterpillars are hungry,
they are also picky eaters.
Differing species like different leaves.
And this guy,
the Black Swallowtail,
is partial to parsley.
Organic only please.
While another well-known caterpillar,
the Monarch,
prefers milkweed.
Over the course of its juvenile life,
caterpillars increase their body mass
by as much as 1,000 times or more.
And if all of that growing weren't enough,
caterpillars also have to store enough protein
for after they become an adult butterfly,
which is why this little guy is still eating.
After nearly two weeks of eating,
the fully grown caterpillar is on a mission
to find the perfect place to attach itself
and shed its skin one final time.
At Margaret’s house,
it means it’s time to move them into a special box.
The caterpillar attaches itself to a twig,
where it will shed its skin one last time
to become a chrysalis.
Inside the still form of a chrysalis,
a complete transformation is taking place
in a process called metamorphosis.
Scientists have recently discovered
a few special cells
called imaginal discs.
It’s these discs that form into beaks,
legs,
and of course, wings.
When a butterfly first emerges from the chrysalis,
its wings are folded against its body.
As it gets used to its surroundings,
blood is pumped into the wings
allowing them to expand and, ultimately, fly.
Once the butterflies can fly,
Margaret bids them goodbye.
They live their short lives in the wind.
The more eggs that Margaret can save,
the more butterflies that are made.
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