two boys

it's been getting colder during the days now, and really chilly at night... but i still have 14 chrysalis waiting to emerge.

i brought the 'castle' inside to keep them warm, and help them along.

this morning i released two beautiful boys.

108 butterflies

i have raised and released 108 butterflies so far this year.

fly away

releasing eight beautiful butterflies...

taking flight

two more beautiful girls take flight this morning.

first flight

enjoying a hawaiian punch soaked cotton ball before she takes her first flight.

future babies

all was quiet for a month. i saw a few monarchs passing through. but today this lady fluttered around for about an hour. i sat quietly and watched her as she drank nectar and went from leaf to leaf laying eggs. it was the first time i got to see this happening. first, i identified her as a female. then i could see her land on a leaf, and tuck her abdomen on the underside of the leaf as she deposited her eggs. she will deposit about one hundred eggs.

monarch butterflies use a combination of visual and chemical cues to find milkweed. once they land on a plant, they use sensory organs on their feet and heads to tell them if it is a milkweed, and the quality of the milkweed. she must have liked my milkweed.

i will now go out and go on a monarch egg hunt  :)

beautiful boy

this beautiful boy is ready for his first flight.

emergence

i have been waiting to see this. the monarch butterfly emergence, or eclosion, from the chrysalis.

this morning i got to watch 3 of them emerge.

i did not get my camera in time to get him actually pushing out of the chrysalis - but got these pictures immediately after he slipped free.

when they first emerge from the chrysalis, their wings are tiny and wrinkled. their abdomen is swollen and full of liquid. they pump liquid from their abdomen into their wings.

a few minutes later the wings are fully expanded - but they are soft and vulnerable. they hang vertically for a few hours until their wings are hardened and this butterfly is ready to fly !

so far... i have 3 girls and 1 boy. i have 9 chrysalis left.

this is their fourth, and last, stage of life... the butterfly.

male or female ?

the top picture is a female.. the bottom picture is a male.

the female has thicker black wing veins.

the male has a black dot on the lower wing.

the black dot releases a scent, a pheromone, for attracting females.