Sunday, July 6, 2014

Life Cycle of a Butterfly {Day 1}

A few months ago in May, I had the privilege of watching five Monarch Caterpillars grow from small babies, form their crysalis, and emerge as butterflies.  I was able to take photographs along the way, but not as many as I would like.  When I found this Monarch Egg in my garden a few days ago (click here for a refresher), I thought it would be a great experience to be able to blog his/her life cycle.

Day 1(Approximately)
Monarch Butterfly Egg
ISO 640 ~ 60mm ~ f/5.0 ~ 1/200 sec
© Corrie M. Avila

Day 4
Monarch Caterpillar Starting to Hatch
(You can see the Black of his/her head starting to push through the egg)
ISO 800 ~ 60mm ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/80 sec
© Corrie M. Avila

When I saw that the Caterpillar was getting ready to hatch, I took the leaf off and brought it inside.  I didn't want him/her being lunch for my newly acquired ladybugs.  I just missed watching it hatch out completely, but shot this photo just after.

Monarch Caterpillar Just Hatched
ISO 100 ~ 60mm ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/125 sec
© Corrie M. Avila

My Boys looking at the Itty Bitty Caterpillar
ISO 800 ~ 60mm ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/60 sec
© Corrie M. Avila

When I say this Caterpillar is Itty Bitty, it is truly TINY!
Here's a comparison with a 1x1 regular sized lego
ISO 250 ~ 60mm ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/160 sec
© Corrie M. Avila

After I got this little guy settled on the milkweed indoors, I looked outside to see if there were any more eggs.  I was surprised to see two more newly, just hatched caterpillars, already munching away.  I brought those two indoors as well.  

We are now the proud parents of three Very Very Hungry Monarch Caterpillars.  I hope you'll join us on our journey fostering these little guys through their life cycle.

One more thing... lets take a poll... out of the three caterpillars, how many girls and how many boys?  Our last grouping of five Monarchs had four boys and one girl.

Capturing the Moment,

Corrie <3

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