Monday, September 12, 2016

Monarch Adults!

Well friends, it's happening. Monarch adults are emerging from their chrysalises like mad and it's so cool!


You can see not all the monarchs are making it to adulthood...this one below has some sort of issue with a bacteria, virus or parasite. We are not familiar enough with this stuff yet to make a call. Some of this stuff is super highly contagious so we will see how our others fare.


Here is a healthy chrysalis with wings starting to show through...


So far we've lost 4 chrysalises and had 16 healthy adults emerge with many more on the way. On this particular day, we found one in the tent in the morning hanging from its pot so we brought it to the sunshine to help speed up the drying process.


This male (you can tell by the dots on the hind wing) clung to the side of the pot for about 30-45 minutes in the sunshine while I had my coffee. He expelled lots of fluid and pumped his wings now and again.


A minute after this photo, this Monarch flew off and soon found our perennial goldenrod and annual Mexican sunflower...a major monarch magnet.


Steve made a video for you to see some of this magic. Enjoy!

8 comments:

  1. This has been highly entertaining! Thank you.

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    1. So glad you enjoyed! I captured one more video of the monarch emerging from the chrysalis...wow!

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  2. Goosebumps! I've seen monarchs all my life but watching these develop makes them extra-super-duper-special!

    Thanks for helping these critters along and providing them with a special place to get their start.

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    1. We feel so honored to have helped these Monarchs. How lucky we are to live amongst these beauties!

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  3. Just love all your videos. Keep them coming!

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    1. Will do lady. We got one atop Jackita Ridge in WA and will post that soon.

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  4. AWESOME work, y'all are amazing! Every milkweed pod I see I think of you 2! Enjoyed the video very much!

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    1. Thanks Sondra! We think of you often too with all your creativity and awesome travels. :)

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