Butterfly #2

Bad news-despite what the little booklet that came with the butterfly house said-it is not a good idea to have the butterfly hatch from a chrysalis that is not hanging. This guy has crushed wings. :(

I was out doing errands, and when I got back he was laying on his back and had been for maybe about 1/2 hour. I quick grabbed a stick and he crawled right up to hang. Not looking good though, as the wings are quite mangled.
I also hung the other chrysalis with duct tape. It should hatch any time...

Two More Butterflies

Looks like we will have 2 more butterflies hatch today. Here's the chrysalises. Since we didn't have the butterfly house yet when the caterpillars went into chrysalis, the chrysalises are laying at the bottom of of the butterfly house (vs. hanging). It should work out OK, and hopefully they didn't get jostled with feeding the first butterfly etc. etc.

One chrysalis is very translucent!!

Hoping to be able to observe the actual hatching today. After I drive a friend to the airport, have a few errands to do...so hoping that I do not miss it.

I laid the first butterfly in the flower bed in the front yard. Since the others look ready to hatch, I figured we should put her out into nature. She's hanging out and not flying. Ah well...

Can You Fly?

Hmm-we tried to release the butterfly this morning, but she doesn't seem to quite know how to fly. I am hoping that one more day in the butterfly house will help...but perhaps the wings didn't form quite right.

We pulled a Black Eyed Susan out of the garden and set her on it. She just sat there...
*cross fingers* for tomorrow.

Butterfly on Watermelon

Hanging out on a piece of watermelon at the base of the butterfly house...

Butterfly-Girl

She's a girl...we named her Lily. Today she is eating watermelon at the bottom of the butterfly house. Maybe will be ready for release tomorrow.

Isn't she beautiful?

Butterfly!

This new butterfly hatched in about 40 minutes while I was downstairs working-yes really. It is fully formed and beautiful. The wings are wet. I can't tell gender yet until I see open wings (males have an extra set of black spots at the bottom of each wing).

Welcome to the world -- again!!

Chrysalis-Final Stage

Chrysalis #1 (of 4) turned black overnight. With the illumination of the camera with flash, you can see the wing pattern! I am really getting a kick out of this. Won't be long before the butterfly hatches.

I am shooting photos through the clear plastic top of the butterfly house so as not to disturb the little guy, so there's a bit of a reflection and it's hard to get a clear photo. This one we attached to the top of the house with duct tape. :)Here you can see the top of the house with 2 chrysalises (and duct tape)-fuzzy, but there you have it.