A female pipevine swallowtail deposits her eggs on a pipevine plant in the biohouse near Foley Hall on Kansas University's West Campus. Monarch Watch will hold its annual fall open house Saturday at Foley Hall.

Children who attend this weekend’s Monarch Watch Open House will have the chance to observe the birth of a butterfly as it emerges from a chrysalis.

Chip Taylor, Monarch Watch’s director, said the program had 300 or so chrysalides to give out to children. The children can take them home and watch them until the butterflies break free.

Taylor’s expecting good weather and many varieties of butterflies for the event, which runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“The garden is teeming with butterflies right now,” Taylor said. “We’re going to have more butterflies on display in the biohouse, too.”

Taylor, a world-renowned expert on butterflies and their migration patterns, will be available to answer any questions that children or adults may have. He’ll also be conducting a number of workshops on butterflies.

“We’re celebrating the arrival of the monarchs and the end of summer here,” Taylor said. “Bring a camera. When you come to the biohouse, you’ll see a lot of really nice butterflies that will let you walk right up to them.”

Taylor said that as many as 100 to 150 butterfly species come through Kansas. He expected about 20 to 25 species to be on display at this weekend’s open house.

The open house is at Monarch Watch headquarters, Foley Hall on Kansas University’s West Campus. The following weekend, however, the real work of Monarch Watch begins, as volunteers begin to tag the butterflies.

Taylor expects the monarchs will arrive en masse within days. Traditionally, he said, they arrive between Sept. 8 and 11.

The annual tagging event is scheduled for Sept. 15 at Baker Wetlands and will run from about 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

More information on both events is available at www.monarchwatch.org.