We were pleased to have a nice crop of milkweed plants in our yard this year because we know that Monarch butterfly caterpillars depend on them. Recently, we saw these gorgeous Monarch caterpillars across the patio from the milkweed, chowing down on a different plant!
A couple of days later all the leaves had been eaten, with no sign of the caterpillars. Had a hungry bird eaten them? We hoped not.
A few days later, a very observant 7 year old neighbor spotted this tiny chrysalis!!!! almost hidden among the leaves of yet a different plant! The same color as its surrounding leaves, it has tiny gold-colored beads encircling it, like a necklace around a cylinder. We had never even seen a chrysalis in the wild before!
The chrysalis is still hanging in (sorry, couldn’t resist), but we had a very colorful and welcome visitor, feasting (quite appropriately) on our butterfly bush: a Monarch butterfly! Apparently, there were other Monarch caterpillars and chrysalises around!
We’re checking on the chrysalis daily and wondering when it will release its butterfly!
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