Emerging Monarch Butterfly……10.18.10 (my first)

This photo of the Chrysalis was taken at 2 pm  yesterday…you can see the outline of the butterfly and it’s color,  but the Chrysalis is still green.

This was taken at 0845 this morning….the Chrysalis is clear and the colors are more vivid.

This was taken a few hours later…at 11:11.  I started watching very closely at this point.

At 11:42 it started to split the Chrysalis. The body is full of fluid that will be pumped into the wings. Notice how fat it’s thorax is now. These were snapshots taken from the video and are not very clear.

 

It looks like some kind of weird bug …… It’s hard to imagine it all fit into that little shell.

Now that the wings are full of fluid…notice the thorax is about normal size. 

It stayed by the empty Chrysalis for over an hour letting the wings dry…

It then  traveled around the cage for awhile ….finally settling on the flowers.

I don’t see any black dots on the hind wings….and the black webbing is thick. Both are signs it’s a female. Perhaps she’ll be back next year and lay eggs on  my milkweed plants. 

I am planting all the ones used to raise the caterpillars….and starting seeds in pots to add to the area. I also purchased Swamp Milkweed seeds from Karen at          www.glorious-butterfly.com         I will be starting them after refrigerating them for a few weeks ( cold stratification). It’s amazing all the new stuff you learn.                                 

Isn’t she beautiful?

I moved her  out of the Butterfly House into the screen room….after a few minutes she started fluttering against the window as though wanting to get out. I placed her back on the bush and moved it outdoors…..a few minutes later she  flew up into a tree. I hope she spends the night there and then makes the rounds of the flowers in the yard in the morning.

Watch the video to see her emerge, pump the fluid from her  body into the wings, get a little exercise….and then her first flight……. to freedom.

What an interesting day!!!