I guess we're new parents..................

 If you've been following along the saga of the butterfly cocoon, Karen went out yesterday and came in letting me know that the butterfly had opened the cocoon and was spreading it's wings. It had opened up when we weren't' around and was trying to get out of the protective net she had placed over the bush so no wasps would bother it. When Karen, reached in, the butterfly flew to her  hand and she gently pulled her hand out of the net and with a strong sweep of its' wings, our butterfly took to the air. Needless to say we were pretty excited to have watched the whole process ! This morning we looked at the bush and there are about 20 small Monarch butterfly caterpillars crawling on the leaves of the bush. The range in size from 1/4 inch up to a half of an inch and they are chowing down on the leaves of the bush.

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It looks like we are on the way to becoming a sanctuary for the Monarch butterflies. Pretty exciting !!!!!

The process has started for the Monarch

Karen was out looking at the Butterfly plant and found out how our caterpillar has disappeared or rather transformed. The change has started in the journey to become a butterfly. In a couple of weeks we should have a new butterfly to name. Reading up on them we discovered that every 5th generation of these butterflies, there will be one that will travel over the Andes to mate, then fly back, and lay her eggs and die. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Monarchs are coming

Sitting on the deck the other afternoon I noticed a caterpillar chowing down on a leaf on our Butterfly plant. Putting two and two together I figured out that this "bug " is actually the start of a Monarch butterfly. I looked it up on the net and I was right The the article also stated that their worst enemy is a wasp. I remembered that last year I saw a wasp attack this type of caterpillar and suck all the juices out of it. All that was left was the skin drooped over the stem of the plant it was on. After our backyard visitor visitor finished eating a massive amount of leaves it will develop its cocoon and start the transformation into the end product of becoming a Monarch.  

I read further that it takes 5 generations of this butterfly to then develop into a remarkable specimen that will end up traveling south and eventually crossing over the Andes mountains in South America before eating once again. It will then have a date or two with other butterflies, then travel back to lay eggs before dying here in America.

Some time in the 80's I saw hundreds of thousands of them hanging off of pine trees on Highland in Carthage. Somewhere I have a photograph of them. The trees were completely covered with the pulsating wings of the butterflies with no green exposed....just a mass of orange and black. 

Plant butterfly bushes and perhaps you will be lucky enough to see a traveler in your yard.