life is change

[the_siobhan]

A friend spotted this on my front porch a few days ago.



I did a web search and came up with this much better pic.



Saturday night I noticed that it had turned black. The flash revealed it be actually quite translucent.



Sunday morning we came back from breakfast to find this little guy.



I've been letting the milkweed run riot through my front yard specifically to feed the monarch caterpillars, so I thought this was pretty damn awesome.

Comments

[marchenland.livejournal.com]

OMG, wow! I want to take photos of one of those.

[kambriel.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous!!! How cool that you spotted it in time and were able to see the various incarnations :)

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping that means they'll come back here to breed. (Then I'll set up a web cam.)

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

Monarch butterfly chrisalyses (chrysali?) are among the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I have no idea what the point of that gold-looking filigree is, but it's lovely.

[megiddo-lj.livejournal.com]

very cool!

[excess-and-oohs.livejournal.com]

very cool...

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Nature in action!

[sola.livejournal.com]

I've been worried about them this year; we haven't seen a single one. <3

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

They're endangered, mostly because their food source has been cleared out by development. Plant milkweed!

[hel_ana]

A friend of mine in Tampa Bay has armies of monarchs every year in her very large garden, because she does exactly this. She also takes care to go to nurseries that don't use pesticides on their plants, so the milkweed she buys frequently comes with caterpillars. (She has butterfly attractants throughout the garden for different species, so it's an awesome place to watch butterflies.)

It's interesting to see the difference in the milkweed varieties between the different climates; milkweed in florida has a much, much thinner leaf, and flowers way more.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I think milkweed is a pretty ugly plant. (The flowers are nice but they don't last very long here, and they look nasty when they die back.)

But I was surprised at how wonderful they smell. Like roses, but heavier. The perfume in my front yard is overwhelming when they are bloom.

[jin-aili.livejournal.com]

You can eat the milkweed leaves when they are young/new. just put them in salad. But you missed the season this year.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

We used to see hundreds of those in the summer. I think I might have seen one last year. Those, and the white ones.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

When I was a kid I used to see millions coating the trees on the coast of the lake, getting ready to migrate in huge swarms.

Now I'm luck to see a half dozen every summer.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Despite all of that (and trying to raise a few caterpillars in my wardrobe as a kid) I'd never seen the chrysalis before -- and then I forgot all about it. The gold thread is pretty need, especially how yours and the stock image both appear to have the same dots.

[sloot.livejournal.com]

+1

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

OOh! Polkadot!

[eveofdstruction.livejournal.com]

Oh WOW! I love the way you can see the butterfly in the 3rd picture, and how perfectly the wing pattern matches up with the striations on the chrysalis.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

That's so awesome I can hardly stand it. (-:

[katyakoshka.livejournal.com]

Beautiful! Glad your plans met with success!

[dark-phoenix54.livejournal.com]

The chrysalis has gold trim on it!! That is sooo cool! And it's even more cool that you caught the butterfly while he was still there! Thanks for sharing!

[a-carnal-mink.livejournal.com]

That chrysalis pic is seriously frakking gorgeous!

[beaq.livejournal.com]

Orsum!

[miss_squiddy]

Oooooooooooooooh.

[ravensee.livejournal.com]

romaingintaiwan taught Chris and Alex how to find caterpillars & how to help them if they were in dangerous areas. They both love stages and lists and the whole chrysalis process helps them understand the basics of life and nature.

They're so pretty too.

This year dragonflies were the cottage favorite, but we still looked out for caterpillars.

[unagothae.livejournal.com]

YAY! SCIENCE!!!

[ladyclayton.livejournal.com]

OOOOH!!!!!

That is beautiful! Isn't it great, all the little surprises we get now and then?

[kylmak.livejournal.com]

sweet pics :)

[ash-pixie.livejournal.com]

Wow that's really cool! Is the chrysalis going to be added to your insect collection? I know it's not an insect but it used to house one. :)