happy news

[asakiyume]

The other day when I was harvesting some milkweed, I found a monarch chrysalis on a leaf. From what I've read, the caterpillars prefer to make their chrysalises elsewhere (for example, there was one on the siding of my house--sadly, that one never hatched).

So I put the stalk in a sheltered place and waited with trepidation to see if it would hatch. We had three days of rain. Today, it's gloomy, but not raining. And I went outside, and instead of a chrysalis, there was a monarch female, resting from her emergence. And her wings look just fine ^_^

chrysalis on a leaf



newly emerged female monarch butterfly (you can see the discarded chrysalis lower down)

Comments

[mallorys_camera]

❤️❤️❤️

[asakiyume]

Every now and then the universe gives us a break.

[sartorias]

She looks delightfully perfect!

[asakiyume]

And she's just in time to join in the big migration south

[yamamanama]

I remember someone telling me the difference between males and females years ago. Is it something to do with the white spots?

Swallowtails are a lot easier to sex (females have the blue).

[asakiyume]

It's actually a black spot on the veining of the back wings: if the monarch has that, it's a male; if it doesn't, it's a female. If you look close up at the photo of Crinklewing in this entry, you can see the spot--he's a male. But this one doesn't have that.

[purlewe]

WAHOOOOO!! I am always ready to celebrate the happy.

[asakiyume]

ME TOO! Let's embrace the joy!

[gwynnega]

Yay!

[asakiyume]

\(^o^)/

[sovay]

We had three days of rain. Today, it's gloomy, but not raining. And I went outside, and instead of a chrysalis, there was a monarch female, resting from her emergence.

Hooray!

My mother hatched three monarchs this summer, one of which was just in time for rushthatspeaks' birthday.

[asakiyume]

Three cheers!! One for each of them. And hurray for special birthday monarchs!

[summersgate]

What a thrill! So glad you were lucky enough to visit and get to see her.

[asakiyume]

This was in my own yard, so I didn't have to go far--just out my front door, really--but yes! I'm glad too that I caught sight of her before she flew off!

[rachelmanija]

What a beauty.

[asakiyume]

Truly

[radiantfracture]

So beautiful!

[asakiyume]

A real joy to see!

[wayfaringwordhack]

Beautiful to behold life continued and transformation realized. Love that you helped out by giving the chrysalis better conditions. <3

[asakiyume]

I was so happy to see this final stage, having seen the caterpillars and the chrysalises. And after the heartbreak of Chrinklewing, it was great to see a butterfly that was healthy (as far as I can tell).

[smokingboot]

You are in a magic, a beautiful spell. Thanks for sharing it X

[asakiyume]

Thank *you* so much for being here to share it all with.

[osprey_archer]

What a beautiful butterfly! A perfect end to three days of rain.

[asakiyume]

Truly so ^_^

[amaebi]

Brava, brava, mariposa!

[asakiyume]

^_^

joining the applause

[orange_scissors]

So beautiful! The metamorphosis of caterpillar to butterfly is one of the most amazing transformations of the universe.... along with all the other amazing transformations, like dust to star, tadpole to frog, human consciousness. Uh, etc. etc.

[asakiyume]

Amazing that such things happen, truly amazing.