Baby Butterflies

We have some tall plants growing in one of our flowerbeds that we weren't sure what they were. We figured they were sunflowers because we had a bird feeder in the flower bed for a while so we let them grow. There was a monarch butterfly stopping at it a few times and we couldn't figure out why. Once it started to flower, it all clicked. Last year my wife planted some milkweed but it never grew and we just forgot about it. Now it's growing, and so are the monarch caterpillars. I counted 7 total, 5 large ones, and 2 small ones. Hopefully I will have some chrysalises soon.

This little guy is only about 1/4" long.

Very nice, Mike!

You should be able to get a lot of good "eating" shots at this stage.

Thanks Loupey. I'm working on them and hope to get some later this week. Spent some time yesterday with the G9 shooting time lapse video of them eating. It was pretty windy though so it's not that great. May have to set something up inside for them where I can get better control of the "environment". :)

All 5 of the large caterpillars were still on the plants this morning before work. When I got home I couldn't find any of them on the plants. I did eventually find 2 of them and I brought 1 into the house to watch it transform. Unfortunately it looks like it's going to transform in a spot in my aquarium that isn't going to be very good for photos. I was hoping it would hang on a stick that I put in it, but I guess it thought the top cage was a better spot. Should still be fun to watch.

Here are a couple more images. One of the large caterpillars was taken yesterday, the small one was taken tonight. There are at least 2, maybe 3 of the small ones still on the plants. I found a couple leaves that look like they may have eggs on them so there could be more to come.

A couple more images to add to the series. One of the young caterpillars with a chrysalis on the milkweed plant. The other image is of a young caterpillar eating it's shed 'skin'. The cuticle is like a shell and it does not grow with the caterpillar. When the caterpillar gets too large, it sheds it's skin and then eats it. The skin is filled with vitamins for the growing caterpillar.

The chrysalis shot is wonderful. It really shows how small the younger one is in addition to the beauty of the chrysalis itself.

Thanks Loupey. That was shot at almost 10:30 at night, after a very long day. I checked on them while letting the dogs out before going to bed and knew that the shot wouldn't be there in the morning so I figured I would give it a try. Wish it had more DOF but I'll take it. Hoping for some more shots this weekend.

Great images! Have you ID'd it yet?

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Originally Posted by paulnj

Great images! Have you ID'd it yet?

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Thanks Paul. These are monarchs. We should have butterflies later this week or early next week.

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Originally Posted by mjs1973

Thanks Paul. These are monarchs. We should have butterflies later this week or early next week.

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thought so. I seen a swallowtail emerge today. So cool to see.

congrats on the featured photo. I heard 2 really cool guys chose it :D

I have never watched one emerge. Hopefully they decide to come out on the weekend. I would like to document them some more. I took a few more shots tonight, but my HD is full so I need to clear some space before I can download them.

Thanks for the feature!

Congrats on your feature, Mike!

Great series, super sharpness and clarity, wonderful shots congrats on the feature.

Thanks Cara and Shootme.

The chrysalis I had in my aquarium was green last night when I went to bed at 11:00. At 6:00 this morning there was a wet butterfly hanging from it. The one outside was still green this morning so I'm hoping for some shots of it emerging when I get home.