Nature is Great!

I’ve never seen this process really from beginning to end. To be able to not only see it up close but get photos… Next time the kids find a catepillar, get a jar and enjoy it.

This is one of the caterpillars a co-worker of mine found in our front yard. He actually found 9 of them but some of them didn’t make it.



We searched the internet and found out that one day it would be a monarch. The cycle is only about 21 days.

Here it is after it turned into a chrysalis.


As the 10 days this stage takes goes on the chrysalis turns black. Just before it opens it turns clear and you can see the wings of the butterfly. (That photo is pretty blurry.)


When it’s time for them to come out, the bottom of the chrysalis opens up and they climb out. This process takes less than 10 minutes so if you aren’t there when it starts, you’ll probably miss it.


Their wings are pretty wet when they first come out. There were actually drops of water on the counter below where he was perched.


He stayed in our warehouse for most of the day drying his wings.



At closing time when he was still there, we took him outside and placed him on the bushes.



He stayed right there until I left to go home. As I was locking the door I looked over (quite sure he would not be there in the morning) to see him one last time. He moved his wings a couple of times as if saying goodbye and he took off around the side of our building.