Milkweed patch started in 2018, looking good in 2019 but no flowers other than Nancy (as of July 3).
May 27 witnessed a Monarch lingering, checked and found eggs.
Eggs hatched June 2 but only found a few tiny caterpillars, this one might be a day or two old. Photographed June 3.
What goes in must come out. Yes the camera is tilted.
June 21
June 23 This one is more interested in stem than leaf at this point, wants fiber I guess.
June 24 Cha-cha-changes... Cat#1
June 25 Cat#2 decided to attach to a piece of newspaper lining the enclosure.
Slideshow of photos taken every ten minutes. Clearly that period was too long to catch much of the actual transformation. I consider myself fortunate to have the one shot where the split skin is visible.
Flash forward to July 3. I noticed the chrysalises were dark so hurried to get the camera ready. When I turned around they had both emerged, too quick for me to catch. Didn't even get a shot of the dark chrysalis. (find a shot from last time)
Before I had my wits about me enough to get sharper pictures, I was able to get this little sequence of rumpled wings expanding.
Didn't get a good shot of top wings and it's too bad, she was quite dusky looking.
However, even from the underside view you can see no hindwing spots.
Slideshow spanning a 9 minute sequence of the last pre-release shots of the male.
Free at last. Resting here after short maiden flights.
More eggs and cats found (add some details, pictures and dates here perhaps)
July 21 I was showing Nancy how the eggs got a little black spot when ready to hatch. Hmm that one looks like it's about ready, I wonder if I could possibly photograph the event. Kluged up Nancy's hand lens and voila.
August 6
More eggs and cats found (add some details, pictures and dates here perhaps)
July 21 I was showing Nancy how the eggs got a little black spot when ready to hatch. Hmm that one looks like it's about ready, I wonder if I could possibly photograph the event. Kluged up Nancy's hand lens and voila.
August 6
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