I have been anticipating this day. All five Monarch caterpillars formed a J-Formation on the same day and then went into their chrysalis stage. You can always tell when that special day arrives when you see the butterfly wings inside the chrysalis.
This caterpillar fooled me and built its cocoon on the top of the rearing cage. You can see that the chrysalis is starting to show the formation of the butterfly. This morning I found it hanging and strengthening its wings.
He didn't like it when I had to change all the leaves for the babies. He kept flying about the cage each time I put my hand in it. I knew he was ready to be released, but it had started raining, so I kept him in there until it had stopped.
It has been about 11 days, and this morning I awoke to two more of them hanging from the top of the release cage.
They must have been anxious to hatch since they were already flapping their wings when I woke up at 7:00 A.M.
I took the cage cover off the container and hung it outside on the porch next to my chair. I poured a cup of coffee and sat with the butterflies. The fifth one hatched right next to another that had hatched earlier. It is always a delight to see them emerge. I made a short clip of one of them to share with you.
This female tried to fly but ended up on the arm of my chair.
Then she crawled up onto my arm, but the pictures I tried to take were very blurry.
I took her out and released her onto a zinnia by the pond. She stayed there for another few moments before taking her first flight.
About an hour later, another one of them flew onto the bamboo shades and climbed up to the thermometer. He hung around for a while before flying off.
I took a photo of him when he landed on a zinnia nearby. Today, I had three males and two females emerge and were released to enjoy their new journey.
Now, I wait for the rest of the babies to go through all the stages. Thus, another rearing season will come to an end. I hope you enjoyed seeing my little creatures as much as I enjoy raising them.
