3-year-old Windsor girl raising and releasing monarch butterflies

Abbygail Burgess is not even in school yet, but the Windsor three-year-old is doing a lot of learning as she raises and releases monarch butterflies.

Burgess and her mother Charmaine Robinson have set up a monarch waystation in their yard, helping the monarchs along as they hatch, grow, turn from caterpillars into butterflies, and then get released into the wild.

But not before Burgess names butterflies after Disney characters and family members.

Robinson said they got involved after coming across the Monarch Butterfly Enthusiasts of Windsor and Essex County page on Facebook.

"I thought it'd be kind of interesting to teach [Burgess] a little bit more," Robinson said. "We're not indoor people. We like it outside."

"She just got right into it."

The process involves setting up an enclosure. Monarchs lay eggs on milkweed leaves, which are picked and put in a container, and a few days later, the eggs hatch.

"We keep them in there till they're a little fair size,"  she said. "And then they go inside the enclosure and then you just keep feeding the milkweed."

"Eventually they climb up to the top of the enclosure and they make like a J shape," she said. "They hang like that for maybe a day, maybe two, and then they go into their chrysalis and then they sit in there for eight, 10 days."

"Then they come out, and we let them go after we name them." 

Burgess said her favourite part of the process is "picking the eggs."

Robinson said she's happy to see Burgess learning about butterflies on her own.

"It's been amazing to sit back and watch it and help her with it," Robinson said. "It's nice to be outside and to see her take an interest in everything, and knowing that she'll be ready to kind of bring something different to school."