this one came out of the chrysalis this morning and walked up my arm, before he flew away.
new monarch
What a nice way to start your day! I just love releasing the Monarchs because they are so friendly! I know it's just their behavior but it's so much nicer than some of the others that zip off without even time for a pic!
Beautiful photo and beautiful Monarch.
I was releasing my 2nd GF this morning. Talking with him a bit as he got used to the "Waybigo World", when a Monarch landed on the milkweed in front of me. I watch as she layed egg after egg. I may just get to be a Monarch Grandma yet! :-)
Janet
The past few days I have had a number of Monarchs in my yard, laying eggs, cats and great big BF's. It has been wonderful!
Lots of Monarchs here, also....took this shot today.
No fair! Do you two in FL have them for much longer? all year? I was surprised that I had such an abundance of them in the spring. That's good tho because that's not too far away actually!
I believe that the Monarchs are in Florida year round. At least that has been my experience. Though they are more abundant in Spring and Fall.
Something else that I have noticed. When I raise a lot of them, it seems like the first couple of days of emerging butterflies - they are all males. And then several days later they are mostly females.
This photo is of a male I just released this morning. I when I got home from work, another male had emerged. I have one more chrysalis and a cat in the "J" currently. I have 4 more small cats, so we'll see what gender they are.
beautiful picture Becky. I have found the monarch cats on the milkweed, but haven't seen any eggs. We don't have many monarchs, lots of gulf frits laying eggs on the passi vine, continuosly.
purplepetunia - Love your posting name! I have purple petunias in my garden and they have such a wonderful smell. And the color is so deep a purple that I can't believe a flower could be that color. Fantastic flowers! Thanks for enjoying the photo of my new generation of Monarchs. I hope he has since met many lovely Monarch lady butterflies! And they come back to visit my garden and leave the eggs of the future generation! ;-)
The one Monarch that I've had has finally emerged. He did it yesterday. I took the little plastic cage with me to the Round Up because I wanted to be sure his wings were dry. They never have unfolded completely. When we arrived back in Beaumont last night, I put him in the cat cage without the plastic cage. This morning, the wings were still folded up. As the morning progessed, I went ahead and turned him loose on the buddleia. His wings are still folded down on the tops. Is this normal???
Janet
Janet - No. Their wings should fully expand within 5-15 minutes after emerging from their chrysalis. Then it takes another 15-30 minutes to dry. He's probably a sick butterfly. Probably has the OE outbreak. I always have a couple of butterflies that happens to. I have raised them in a cage for the duration of their short life. They have lives up to 4 weeks that way. I'd let nature take it's course. It's too bad. See explanation at this website:
http://www.livemonarch.com/advanced.htm