This week, I had an unusual request from my friend, Annie. She asked if I could watch some monarch chrysalises while they were out of town for a few days. I said sure, but I would need instructions. Annie has milkweed and active monarch butterfly activity in her yard. She harvested several of the many chrysalises to ensure some of them reached adulthood. She gave us three containers with a total of 7 chrysalises.
My kids watched butterflies emerge in first grade as part of a science project, but I have never seen more than pictures of the process. So you can only imagine how excited I was when I saw, not one, but three butterflies emerge yesterday. I took pictures, but they were not always easy to get from outside their container. Anyway, below are pictures of this miraculous event we observed yesterday.
The chrysalises start out green.
The casing turns clear before hatching and appears black because of the black on the butterfly's wings and body. The gold band near the top is for oxygen exchange.
The wings are very small when the butterfly first appears.
They spend several hours drying off, and the wings gradually expand.
They eventually start slowly flapping them. That means they are about ready to meet the world.
We released them near flowers, so nectar would be easy to find. BTW, this one is a male monarch as evidenced by the two black dots near the bottom of the inner wings.
And as a tribute to Dolly, here is her song, "Love is Like a Butterfly."
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