Helpless
Emerged from the chrysalis a butterfly’s wings are crumpled, useless. Here it is four minutes into freedom, abdomen bloated with fluid.
Click photograph for a larger view and use Ctrl-x to zoom in closer.
Click me for better experience viewing the following video. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page. Note the replay icon (an arrow circling counter-clockwise.
Thank You for visiting. Click me for the first post of this series.
Watch a Monarch butterfly leave the chrysalis
Watch the transparent chrysalis carefully and tiny movements are apparent before the skin splits, the butterfly slowly emerges.
Click photograph for a larger view and use Ctrl-+ (press down Ctrl, hold, then click plus sign repeatedly) to zoom in closer.
Click me for better experience viewing the following video. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page. Note the replay icon (an arrow circling counter-clockwise.
I used the cage access door and the IPhone 7 for these views inside the cage. Flash was used for the still photograph.
Thank You for visiting. Click me for the first post of this series.
Caterpillar to pupa to chrysalis
Still hanging, quiet, motionless the chrysalis from the caterpillar photographed yesterday becomes translucent the same evening, Day 9 since pupation.
Click photograph for a larger view and use Ctrl-x to zoom in closer.
Day 10, early morning, the outer skin, fully transparent, signals emergence is immanent.
Click me for better experience viewing the following video. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page. Note the replay icon (an arrow circling counter-clockwise.
I used the cage access door and the IPhone 7, with flash, for these views inside the cage.
Thank You for visiting. Click me for the first post of this series.
Caterpillar to pupa to chrysalis
Our monarch butterfly sanctuary is a dense stand of milkweed, over the years the established plants grow rapidly late May through June, blooming in July. The flowers have an incredible scent, attracting numerous pollinating insects.
A colony of pesky sparrows nest nearby. In spite of a reputation for tasting bad, the sparrow actively feed on the hatched caterpillars. My strategy is to examine the plants early morning, placing rescued caterpillars in this old birdcage.
Click photograph for a larger view and use Ctrl-x to zoom in closer.
The caterpillars and milkweed leaf is placed on the cage floor. I pile up the dried leaves, replacing with fresh each morning.
Sadly to report, the last, ravenous caterpillar stage is also carnivorous, cannibalistic. These two, below, were the only ones left except for one in the pile of dried leaves.
Here is a closer view of the two fifth stage instars searching for a safe location to pupate.
A few hours later one has successfully created a silk pad, attached itself and assumed the “J” shape. To the left a second caterpillar and silk pad.
The next morning, the first has formed a chrysalis. The second, hung spent.
This unsuccessful individual never completed the chrysalis, dried up and fell. My sources write the pupa transforms to a chrysalis through shedding of skin, the following photograph tells a different story. The chrysalis appears to extrude from the skin; arising over, or from, the skin rather and beneath it. I have never recovered a shed skin underneath a successful chrysalis.
Nine days later, Tuesday, July 28, the chrysalis hangs. I check several times a day.
These photographs are from a 100mm “macro” lens, handheld. The birdcage works well for protecting the monarchs. Is a poor location for photography.
Thank You for visiting.
Broad-leaved Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine), a wild orchid, is a wide ranging, invasive, plant now found across North America. I suspect this success is based on a partnership with fungi. Commonly known as the “Weedy Orchid” it is not especially particular on the fungus partner, accepting a wide, curiously undefined for lack of research, variety.
In this the fourth of a five part series, the 50 mm lens f-stop is tamped down a bit, narrowing the diaphragm to f2.2, yielding the column of orchid faces in sharp focus. The nodding top, bent into the frame, unfocused, stem and leaves soft focus, still lots of detail discernible. Background far less distracting.
Click photograph for a larger view and use Ctrl-x to zoom in closer.
Today’s header image is from yesterday’s post, by way of comparison.
Click me for the first post of this series.
.to be continued.
Fireworks!!!
Here’s a fireworks display to help you celebrate the Fourth of July. Click on any image for a larger view.
Our home on west hill has a great view of the Ithaca fireworks. I had to shoot through overhead electricity wires. Some of the photographs were enhanced to remove the lines.
Copyright 2019 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Michael Stephen Wills Photography 