A perfect Monarch Butterfly male emerged from its chrysalis today and flew off to its butterfly life. Scroll through each picture, below, to read the story as it unfolds. Today a brand new and perfect Monarch male butterfly left home for the first time. He had been raised indoors, from an egg and, having grown from tiny to big fat caterpillar over several weeks, made a perfect chrysalis. Our weather has been a little cold, as we wait for Summer to really kick in, so he remained in the chrysalis for 17 days (the usual time is about 10 days when the weather is warm). Last evening he made a perfect emergence from his chrysalis, puffed out his wings and did all the right butterfly things to be ready to fly. This morning was sunny, so I placed him outside under the shelter of our veranda roof. Within 5 minutes of being outside in the open air, he was off. A perfect takeoff and a perfect flight. It's mid-winter, here in New Zealand, and it's been a very wet and cold one for most of us.
Here in the far north of the country, our winters are generally not as severe as they experience in rest of the country, but we do get plenty of cold and rain. During many of our winters we can see clusters of Monarch butterflies enjoying the winter sun. Our Monarchs do not migrate to anywhere, they just hang around their 'patch', in clusters, to wait the winter out. Having said that, we've not seen a lot of Monarchs out and about this winter. That could be for several reasons - 1) there aren't that many around because their numbers were so devastated by wasps during summer, or 2) we haven't been out and about enough to see them. This male Monarch was happily flicking around the fruit trees and flowers, in the garden of historic Kemp House, in Kerikeri. Although there were no rips to it's wings, they were showing signs of wear. It was a joy to see this beauty of orange, showing in flight against the late afternoon sun in July. Zinnia's are the best flowers in our garden, this summer, for attracting butterflies and bees. They flock to them and all try to get into the same flower at once.
I've cooled it, on the Monarch raising front, this Summer. There are several reasons for this, most of them practical. I'm away a lot and not in a position to care for the caterpillars on a constant basis. When the season began, I didn't have a lot of Swan Plants, due to a big clear out and repositioning of plants at the end of last season. We're having a very hot, dry, Summer in Northland. We collect our own water from the rain and store it in a 9000 litre tank. 9000L isn't a lot (most people have a 20,000L tank) and when it doesn't rain (as it hasn't for 6 weeks or more) we must be sparing with our water usage. We can buy water, yes, but right now there's a long waiting list of those wanting to buy water and even the water source (a nearby river) is running very low. Unfortunately my plants suffer in these conditions. Now that the season is in full swing, and conditions are dry, my swan plants are not in good condition and are quite aphid-ridden. We are diverting water from the washing machine, to a separate tank for water to hose the garden with, but even then I have to be sparing with garden water. Having said all that, despite the difficult conditions, over the December 2016 - February 2017 period I have successfully raised and released 36 Monarch butterflies. All were perfect and beautiful. Click on each picture to see a larger view.
Are you up for a dose of cuteness?
What is cuter than a Koala with a Monarch butterfly male cutting in on the picture? REF: You Tube, Symbio Wildlife Park, Helensburgh, New South Wales, Australia Check out Symbio Wildlife Park..... For this butterfly season in New Zealand, I had decided not to actively raise Monarch Butterflies, but rather leave it all to nature. That idea didn't last long. I changed my mind, early in November, the minute I saw an Asian Paper Wasp attack a half-grown Monarch Caterpillar and try to carry it off. The caterpillar died and so did the wasp (we killed it). I decided that, if it those gorgeous caterpillars were going to be kliied that fast, I still needed to step in. So here we are - caterpillars and chrysalis's all around us in the house. Bless their little cotton socks, they are doing really well. Here's what happens. I collect eggs, as soon as I see a Monarch butterfly lay them. Yes, I'm doing this in a scaled down version of how I have managed my Monarch raising, in previous years, but I'm doing it. My method -
So here's my first brood. Four perfect butterflies released yesterday and today, now enjoying their butterfly lives. I have four more to come in the next few days. Stay tuned. Click on each picture, below, to see a larger view...... This tiny male Monarch flew off to its butterfly life today. We are in Winter in NZ, and so this one is very late to be coming out and flying off. It was 22 days in the chrysalis and the chrysalis was really small - about half the normal Monarch chrysalis size. At the time of forming its 'J', under a swan plant leaf, it formed an inadequate silk button and was literally hanging by a thread. I waited until the chrysalis happened and then, using hot melt glue, repositioned it onto the flat end of a toothpick. I poked the sharp end of the toothpick into my florists foam block and there it remained. The chrysalis began changing colour 3 days ago. It was a super slow colour change, although by yesterday morning it had become very black with its orange wings showing through the chrysalis skin. I thought it was well close to emerging, but no, it remained in the chrysalis until 10am this morning. But then everything happened quickly. It slid out of the chrysalis, it pumped up and dried its wings, it curled and zipped its proboscis halves together, then it became jumpy and seemed ready to go. I placed it outside on a silver Cineraria leaf where it immediately flexed its wings, open and closed, open and closed, open and closed. This lasted for about 30 minutes. I took several photos and measured the span of its wings (7.5cm - a usual wingspan is about 10 cm). I had barely finished doing this when off it flew. A really small and perfect male. Click on each picture to see a larger view. Yesterday two perfect Monarch Butterflies emerged from their chrysalis's and flew off to their butterfly lives. Our temperatures are cold now, so these very late season butterflies will over-winter with other Monarchs somewhere nearby. One was a small male, the other a large female. Each had a little story. The male had been a caterpillar I found on a scraggy swan plant on the side of the road in our street. There were only a few edible leaves left on the plant and I could not see any other swan plants nearby. Clearly this caterpillar might have died from lack of food before growing large enough to form its chrysalis. I took it home where it dined on lush swan plant leaves that I was able to present it with from our garden. Although it grew to be quite large, the caterpillar created a really small chrysalis. It emerged as a perfect, yet small butterfly, 13 days later. The female had been in a chrysalis that I found at Hobsonville Marina, Auckland, last week when we were there. I spotted a cluster of swan plants across the compound and, upon closer inspection, saw three fat caterpillars and the chrysalis. The problem was that the plants were in a direct and strong wind funnelling between buildings, that was blowing them around a lot. The caterpillars seemed strong, but the chrysalis was hanging from a swan by a single silken thread and was swinging wide in the wind. I could imagine how the emerging butterfly might be blown down from the chrysalis, as it slid out, only to have its wings damaged and perhaps not able to fly. I wrapped the chrysalis gently in tissue, that we had in our car, and transported it home with us - a four hour journey. I hot melt glued the cremaster (the little black tip on the top of the chrysalis) to the end of a toothpick and poked the toothpick into my florists foam block with the other chrysalis's. There it hung until its emergence 3 days later. A perfect female - just lovely. Click on each picture below, to see a larger view...... The majority of Monarch Butterflies I have seen are about the same size. Until today !! Here's what National Geographic says -
We are coming towards the end of our Monarch Butterfly season in New Zealand and I am noticing quite marked variations of sizes, in the Monarchs emerging from their chrysalis's at the moment. Today was a good case in point. Three Monarchs emerged. All perfect. Here are their wingspan sizes -
Today's small male was probably the smallest I have seen. Dainty, yet quite perfect. Nature always gets it right, yes? Click on each picture, below, to see a larger view - |
AUTHOR
Julie Vause
Opua, New Zealand. Keen butterfly photographer and raises Monarch Butterflies for release. " I'm crazy about butterflies and enjoy sharing the beauty and wonder of their transformations." VIDEO
Monarch Caterpillar emerging from egg
Click on video to enlarge
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