almost a butterfly

Patty from Yorktown 7/7/2010, 1:59 pm

Good Morning,

This morning as I was on my way out the door I stopped to check on the garden. I caught a swallowtail butterfly just emerging from it's chrysalis. I have never seen that. I called my boys and we watched it for awhile. It was really neat! Unfortunately I do not think the butterfly is going to survive. It has been several hours and his wings have not unfolded properly, the last time I checked he looked really tired resting on a leaf. Even if this story does not end well, it was a really neat thing to see. We checked the bronze fennel plant next to him and found a few more caterpillars to watch. Happy gardening.

Patty in wonderful Yorktown

Megan 7/7/2010, 8:07 pm

It takes them quite a while to unfold. When I was a kid I had several chrysalises (chrysali?) over the years. I got to see various parts of the progress but never the whole thing from start to end. With any luck, your little friend will have survived the vulnerable stage when its wings don't work, and is now happily sipping nectar somewhere! Very Happy

Patty from Yorktown 7/7/2010, 8:34 pm

The story did not end well, tomorrow we will put him to rest in the garden. This summer has been great for watching butterflies. We found 2 big fat swallowtail caterpillars and put them in a huge jar. They turned into chrysalises and hatched. We found one of the butterflies before his wings were flight worthy. He crawled all over my hand and the kids arms. I took some fun pictures before he flew away. We might do that again, as it was really interesting. Not to mention reinforced a school lesson.

Patty from Yorktown

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