Carbondale Troop #8165 Gets To Know Monarch Butterflies at Their First Meeting

Brownie Troop #8165 from Carbondale had an uplifting and educational start to the new Girl Scout year.  Troop Leader Daisy Chervinko operates official Monarch Waystation #18229, where she raises, tags and releases Monarch butterflies, so it was a perfect fit for the troop to start working on their Bugs badge together. Daisy introduced girls to her Monarch rearing set-up and taught them the life cycle of the butterfly. Girls were able to hold butterflies at every level of the life cycle except chrysalis, which are very delicate - but they got to see chrysalises as well.

Girls also learned how to identify differences between male and female butterflies, as well as see several types of milkweed that the caterpillars feed on.

"They asked the most thoughtful questions and made some amazing observations," Daisy said.

After learning all about Monarchs, girls then helped sex, tag, catalog and release them. 

"Day made, for them and for myself," said Daisy.

What an awesome start to the year!