Anticipating Our Tenth Wedding Anniversary
After work on a 2008 Friday afternoon in October we sped over to Beebee Lake on the Cornell University Campus to catch the late afternoon glow……
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Copyright 2020 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Dried and Hardened, Ready for Flight
Clinging to my sleeve, the newly emerged Monarch wings dried. It is a process of excreting the fluids pumped into wings, crumpled from folding within the chrysalis, to expand them. The clear drips of water on my arm are this fluid. I spent the hour sitting by our pool, savoring the summer morning. The butterfly signaled readiness, wings dried and hardened, opening and closing them slowly. Offered my finger it crawled to my hand, across to the thumb and, running out of space, took off.
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Pre-flight Wing Flaps
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First Flight
Ninety minutes later, I returned to the tree to find the Monarch still perched on the branch. A few minutes later, gone.
I used the IPhone 7 for these views..
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Fully open, soft and useless
Emerged from the chrysalis a butterfly’s wings are crumpled, useless. Here it is fifteen minutes into freedom after abdominal fluid is pumped into the wings, opening them. Full of this fluid, the wings are soft, still useless.
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I used the cage access door and the IPhone 7, with flash, for these views inside the cage.
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Helpless
Emerged from the chrysalis a butterfly’s wings are crumpled, useless. Here it is four minutes into freedom, abdomen bloated with fluid.
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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.
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I used the cage access door and the IPhone 7 for these views inside the cage. Flash was used for the still photograph.
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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.
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Day 10, early morning, the outer skin, fully transparent, signals emergence is immanent.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Today’s header image is from yesterday’s post, by way of comparison.
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.to be continued.
Facing the sun
I close this walk at the turnaround point, the high meadow, with a fireworks display of daisies.
Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
“We Had A Great Ski — Tob”
New since I was last here, this bench, made from local “blue” limestone dedicated to the memory of cross country skiing.
Here are sounds you may experience while sitting here on a summer afternoon.
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Michael Stephen Wills Photography 