Last night the chrysalis was starting to get transparent, a clear sign of an upcoming emergence. Sure enough, around 8:00 AM the colors of the adult were visible through the now-clear chrysalis casing. Checked on it again 30 mins later after breakfast and it had already emerged! Within an hour the wings were fully expanded, though still “flopping” in the breeze a bit, stiffening slowly over the next couple of hours and finally flying off into the great unknown a bit after noon.
Monarchs are of course beautiful, but those found “in the wild” will inevitably lose some scales and thus some of their vibrance. This newly emerged fella is pristine, and the rich orange of the tops of the wings was spectacular.
The transformation from caterpillar to adult is seemingly miraculous, with the body essentially liquifying and morphing into the delicate and wonderful adult in less than two weeks. I was worried that this offspring was going to be a bit small with the chrysalis being so little, but nature performs a remarkable origami trick to package those broad wings into that little glittering green pupa. Upon full emergence he seemed normal, maybe just a tad smaller than some I’ve seen.
I missed him flying off, having to leave for some errands before that event, but my wife was able to capture a video of it. I saw a good omen as I was leaving the house with a sighting of another Monarch — perhaps a future partner for our little baby, now grown and flown, leaving us as “empty-nesters.”
It was so rewarding to have this successful launch and gives me renewed optimism for the species and my own little contributions. I’ve made several hundred seed bombs in anticipation of this fall’s harvest and now I’m motivated to make even more!
