Photo Journal Of A Monarch Butterfly

These are two of the four chrysalises we enjoyed watching.  The top green one was a few days behind the other.

This was pretty amazing to see.  For a day or so we enjoyed watching the beautiful wing color through the chrysalis wall.

As it got closer to emerging, the chrysalis became more transparent.

Once it emerged, it hung around for a while before trying its wings.  It usually ended up on the floor.

 

 

 

 

You can see how strong the threads are that attach the chrysalis to its anchor.  This one got bumped when we took it out of the jar, but held tight through the whole process.

This is a female.  We had one female and three males.  The males have thinner lines and two spots at the bottom of the wing.

 

Male monarch drying his wings.  Notice the two spots.

 

 

 

They spent quite a bit of time walking around strengthening their wings.  They all came out in the evening and were ready to take flight the next morning.

 

 

 

 

 

These are two of the empty chrysalises.

 

 

 

This is the last butterfly.  He perched in the window sill before taking flight and leaving the house.

 

 

The adventure begins...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The month of September marks the beginning of a 3-month, 3,000-mile migration for the monarch butterfly from Healing Hooves Family Farm down to Mexico.

 

"The annual journey this September is especially notable in light of serious population declines.

 

Since 1997, the estimated monarch population has decreased from one billion to 56.6 million.

 

The monarchs’ only habitat and food supply, the milkweed plant, is quickly being eradicated through the use of glyphosate, the primary ingredient in Monsanto's popular weed-killing herbicide Roundup."

 

Click here for more information.

 

 

Check out this pretty cool link.  Amazing!

 

 

"The fourth generation of monarch butterflies is a little bit different than the first three generations. The fourth generation is born in September and October and goes through exactly the same process as the first, second and third generations except for one part.

 

The fourth generation of monarch butterflies does not die after two to six weeks. Instead, this generation of monarch butterflies migrates to warmer climates like Mexico and California and will live for six to eight months until it is time to start the whole process over again.

 

It is amazing how the four generations of monarch butterflies works out so that the monarch population can continue to live on throughout the years, but not become overpopulated."  Continue reading here.

 

 

Crawling up...

 And up...

 And up...

 And up!

 

 

Can't wait until next September!