Twenty-four years ago, Shaker Heights High School Spanish teacher Ellen Roberts was walking along a Lake Erie beach with her then three-year-old daughter and they stumbled upon a monarch caterpillar. Her daughter was smitten, named the caterpillar “Cutie” and wanted to take it home. Ms. Roberts obliged her, not knowing that this one serendipitous discovery of a caterpillar would forever change the way Ms. Roberts would experience Cleveland summers. Ever since, Ms. Roberts dedicates the weeks between early July and late September to raising all the monarch caterpillars she finds—in her yard, on walks through the neighborhood or local Northeast Ohio parks—and releasing them, as they make their return migration from southern Canada to their overwintering site in Mexico. She also tags monarchs as part of a special butterfly project with the University of Kansas.
Read more about Ms. Roberts and her fascinating hobby.
Tell us about the timeline of a monarch, from egg to butterfly.
Female monarchs lay their eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves and then after about four days, a teeny, tiny caterpillar comes out. The first thing it does is eat what’s left of the egg because there’s a lot of protein in it. Then, it starts to eat milkweed — they only eat milkweed, which is toxic to other animals and predators. And then for the next 10-14 days, the caterpillar loads up on milkweed and produces a lot of frass, or caterpillar poop. It also sheds its skin five times. The fifth time, the caterpillar becomes a chrysalis—it doesn’t actually spin or make a chrysalis—and it creates a silk button with its mouth that it attaches its rear end to. It spends the next 10-14 days as a chrysalis before the shell of the chrysalis splits and the butterfly emerges. So, from egg to butterfly, it’s about a month, but the length of time in each phase really depends on the weather. If it’s warmer, the phases are shorter. Colder and they’re a little longer. In all, it’s a wonderfully short time to have a hobby or a pet.
How did you come upon this hobby?
Twenty-four years ago, my daughter and I were walking on the beach at Lake Erie and she found a caterpillar. My daughter was only three at the time, so she wanted to take it home. She named it Cutie and we started doing research on the caterpillar. We realized that it was a monarch, so we raised it and then we released it on her fourth birthday, October 11.
So that was the beginning of your long relationship with monarch butterflies?
Yes! The next year, we found out that Chip Taylor at the University of Kansas was running a study to tag monarchs that are part of the migration to Mexico. There are four generations of monarchs each year: they leave Mexico after the winter, then fly into the lower 48 states, where they lay eggs in the spring. The butterflies from those eggs continue north and lay eggs. And then the butterflies from those eggs continue a little further north and lay some more eggs. Finally, these butterflies—the fourth generation that we have here—are the ones that make the trip back to Mexico and winter. What’s crazy is that the butterflies here have never been to Mexico, but they know to go back there. This tagging project helps the University of Kansas track the migration patterns and determine how far they’ve flown and whether they make it to Mexico.
How many did you tag this summer?
I tagged my first one on August 24 and already, I’ve completed almost three pages of tagging data so far. This year has really been a banner year for the monarchs. I’ve raised more than 50 caterpillars this year alone. I’m not sure if it’s the weather conditions or the plants, but this has been a great year.
What’s kept you interested in monarchs this long?
I think that I’ve always been someone who has encouraged curiosity, so when we find things that we don’t understand, I say, “Let’s research this. Let’s find out more.” For me, this is really about appreciating nature. To this day, if I’m heading out of the house but I see one of our caterpillars becoming a chrysalis or coming out of its chrysalis, I can’t help but stop to watch. It’s just one of the most beautiful things to see. It stops me in my tracks every time. And each fall, when it’s over, I can’t help but get a little sad even though I know they’ll be back the next summer. For sure, this hobby has certainly made me stop, slow down and pay attention to the natural world.