Butterfly House opens in Fall Creek

FALL CREEK, Wis. (WEAU) - The Beaver Creek Nature Reserve opened it’s Butterfly House for the summer on Sunday.

“We have anywhere from 10 to 25 different species of butterflies in here any time you visit,”said Erin McMichael, an AmeriCorps Environmental Educator at the Beaver Creek Nature Reserve.

Not every single species of butterfly has it’s wings yet.

“We have all the stages of the life cycle in here, so we have eggs, caterpillars, and butterflies in here,” McMichael said. Every time you visit, it will be something different.”

Many visitors can get up close and personal with the butterflies, and even hold one in their hand with some help from a butterfly feeder from the

“They just help you attract butterflies to get closer so you can get a better view of them,” McMichael said. “Then you can take them home with you, and we can refill them if you bring them back, or you can recycle them for others.”

Plants are also heavily featured in the house.

“Every single plant in here has a purpose, so they’re all native and they’re either hose plants or nectar plants, they’re food for our caterpillars or our butterflies, and we have parsley, kale, cabbage in here, so our butterflies like the same things we like as well,” McMichael said.

Last year, around 8,000 visitors visited the house, and on opening day, the staff thinks they are off to a hot start for the year.

“I wasn’t sure how many people would come on the first day, we opened about thirty minutes ago, and we already have so many people here,” McMichael said. “It’s really awesome to see all these smiling faces and everybody has feeders walking around, already have butterflies landing on them so it’s just super awesome to see.”

The butterfly house is open everyday until the Sunday before Labor Day.