In late October, 2012, Monarch butterflies began to show up by the dozens in our milkweed garden we had been cultivating for about 5 years. (Oct 19, 2012)
|
Use the tools in the upper left-hand corner to navigate the photos. Click on any photo to see a larger version.
|
|
They fed on the nectar from the blossoms. (Oct 19, 2012)
|
You can see the butterfly sucking up nectar. (Oct 19, 2012)
|
|
And generally hanging around the milkweed. (Oct 19, 2012)
|
We later figured out they were laying eggs too. (Nov 4, 2012)
|
|
It was not long before we started seeing caterpillars. (Nov 4, 2012)
|
They crawled all over the milkweed. (Nov 4, 2012)
|
|
Then we started seeing two or more at one time. (Nov 6, 2012)
|
And three or four. We had hundreds of them! (Nov 6, 2012)
|
|
The were eating the milkweed leaves right down to the stem. (Nov 6, 2012)
|
They coexisted with other garden bugs. (Nov 6, 2012)
|
|
About this time, the seed pods of the milkweed burst, sending seeds flying on the wind - except Karen caught 2 bags full to plant. (Nov 6, 2012)
|
Meanwhile, the butterflies were beginning to look old and tired. (Nov 6, 2012)
|
|
And caterpillars were getting fat. (Nov 6, 2012)
|
Pretty soon, they had stripped all the leaves from the milkweed. (Nov 25, 2012)
|
|
And started eating the seed pods. (Nov 25, 2012)
|
There are six in this photo and several more on the stem below the phoot. (Nov 26, 2012)
|
|
Then we found the first chrysalis. This is the pupal stage between caterpillar and butterfly. (Nov 25, 2012)
|
We found many more, on the milkweed, the borcolli, cabbage, fence, etc. (Nov 25, 2012)
|
|
Then we saw a caterpillar attaching himself to the bottom of a brocolli leaf. (December 1, 2012)
|
And found two under a swiss chard leaf. (December 1, 2012)
|
|
And this on one a fence. (December 17, 2012)
|
In a short time, they turned dark, but it was actually becoming a butterfly inside. (December 15, 2012)
|
|
The butterfly became more visible. (December 17, 2012)
|
And the chrysalis discolored. (December 19, 2012)
|
|
And then later the same day, it was empty. (December 19, 2012)
|
And the butterfly had emerged! Note the wings are still unfolding. (December 19, 2012)
Here is a time lapse film of the process:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTa-HMMi7yc
|
|
Unfortunately, its wing had not unfolded correctly after 3 days and we found it on the gournd. We doubt it will survive.
You might find this interesting:
Are Butterflies Two Different Animals in One? The Death And Resurrection Theory
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/08/01/157718428/are-butterflies-two-different-animals-in-one-the-death-and-resurrection-theory
|
|
