asakiyume: (feathers on the line)
asakiyume ([personal profile] asakiyume) wrote2023-09-26 10:37 am

happy news

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

chrysalis

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

newly minted female monarch