Last April, we found one solitary caterpillar building a green cocoon on our back fence.
After a couple of weeks, the chrysalis turned transparent and the butterfly was clearly visible on the inside.
Unfortunately, we did not realize how close it was to rebirth! We walked away for a couple of hours and when we came back, the butterfly had already emerged and was drying its wings on the fence, awaiting its first chance to fly!
This was a very cool bit of nature to witness, and I'm glad that I got to experience it for the first time with my kids. Hopefully they will remember it fondly when they are older!
You can see these photos and many others on my Flickr account.