The Butterfly Chronicles - Part VII

What a weekend!

I got off of work early on Friday afternoon. There was a butterfly waiting for me when I got home, which didn't really surprise me, as I figured they'd start coming out on Thursday, based on the 13 days it took the first two.

We took the terrarium out back and watched our butterfly fly off into the blue sky. I always get choked up when they fly off. I guess I feel a little possessive, but am so happy when they fly away. I make sure thank them for letting us take care of them, and then warn them to look out for birds and spiderwebs. :) What can I say? I may be turning into a bit of a tree hugger.

We brought the terrarium into the house, and I noticed a chrysalis that looked like it was about ready to go. I could see the spots on the wings through the shell, and thought, "Ah-ha! I'm going to FINALLY catch one so I can get pictures. I sat there for four hours. Nothing.

I got up yesterday a little bit before 7:00. I raced out to the dining room, and found the chrysalis I thought would do its thing the previous day still intact. I alternated between the table and the t.v. (watching the news) and then settled down at the table again. Then I ran out of coffee, so I got up and poured myself another cup. I doctored it up, and turned around and danged if there wasn't a butterfly in the terrarium. Ok, fine. I took a couple of pictures, but they looked a lot like the pictures that I took last week, so I didn't post them here. I went back for another cup of coffee, and turned back, and there was ANOTHER butterfly. I was batting a thousand. We let the two go around 10:00 yesterday morning. The first one flew to our Bradford Pear tree, and sat there for a while, so I took some pictures, which are the first two of this entry.

So I figured, ok, that's it for today. Got some of my chores done, and then decided to go out and clean the pool. About an hour in, I needed to get something to drink, so I went inside, and found yet another butterfly. I sighed, and thought, "I give up..." I was so looking forward to actually getting images of the butterfly coming out of the chrysalis, but hadn't been that lucky, yet.

This morning, I wanted to sleep in. Okay, I TRIED to sleep in, but no go. So I went into the kitchen for coffee and found a chrysalis just as black as could be. I just KNEW that it would be yielding a butterfly before too long. (Note to self: Butterfly time is NOT equal to human time, and that "flurry of activity" is not a phrase that one would use in reference to caterpillars, pupas, and butterflies, ha ha.)

So after about three hours of perching on a dining room chair in my nightshirt, I noticed that the last caterpillar went into the pupal stage. It was fascinating to watch from start to finish. I recorded video on my blackberry, but it doesn't really take the best video in low light. I put it on youtube, so if you want to check it out, you will find it below.

I ate some breakfast, drank some more coffee, checked my facebook via cell phone, played some hand-held Yahtzee, and was about to call it a day (it had been almost five more hours sitting at the table) around noon...and then it happened. Tim took video with my phone, and I shot pictures.

The following are the best of the best:

Here is the low-light video of the cat going into the pupal stage:

We recorded video on my blackberry, but it doesn't really take the best video in low light. I put it on youtube, so if you want to check it out, it is; the video of the butterfly coming out of the chrysalis (thanks to my son Tim for catching the blackberry so fast):

The Butterfly Chronicles - Part VI

I got up this morning and went to work, as usual. I got a phone call from the house around 9:30, just before the 10:00 a.m. meeting I was unable to get out of. It was my husband. He told me he came past the terrarium and there was a BUTTERFLY in it. Oh, I was so bugged to have missed the whole emergence of this new winged life. Apparently he'd been out a while, as his wings had already unfolded and he sat on his twig, opening them, closing them.

I knew that the second chrysalis that was in the original group of two cats would probably be ecasing shortly, as they both went into the pupal stage at the same time; within a couple of hours of each other, if you remember from Part I.

I left work just as quickly as I could to come home and see the new arrival (and of course, to take pictures, too) so that we could take him outside to fly off to wherever it is new butterflies go once they are able to fly. I also took a picture of his empty shell where he did all the hard work for the last 13 days.

After watching him flit up to the top of the terrarium several times (almost as if he couldn't get enough momentum to get him out of there), WHOOSH! He was gone. He flew around our back yard a couple of times, and then up and over the roof line he went. Gone. Just like that.

After putting the lid back on and carrying our glass box back into the house, I called my mom to let her know that we had just freed our first butterfly. While we were talking, I looked at the other chrysalis to see if that one had changed any. It had. It was much darker than it had been yesterday, and you could see white spots on the inside. I figured that this butterfly would make an appearance tomorrow, most likely while I am at the office. (I'd read that butterflies tend to ecase between 7-11 a.m.)

I chatted with Mom for a few more moments, looked back in on our chrysalis and it was MOVING. Not just moving, either. Our second butterfly was halfway out of his old home and I told Mom, "I've gotta go! Butterfly! I'll call you back!" I grabbed the camera and started shooting.The entire process did not take long at all. He was out of his little case and hanging from the opposite side of the twig before I could have the cap off of my lens.

Quite frankly, I found the entire process both beautiful and fascinating at the same time. Everything I had read was unfolding in front of my eyes. I am posting the pictures of this below and hope that you enjoy them as much as I loved taking them.

Hopefully we will have another handful emerging next week about this time, and I will get photos of them coming out if I have to sit at that table all day long!

Until next time!

The Butterfly Chronicles - Part V

The last week in our little terrarium was fairly low-key and mundane until this past couple of days.

We had several cats "string up" over the weekend, and all but one has retired to "chrysalis" status and we now have six little butterflies in waiting. One of these little guys decided to take a liking to the screen lid, and would not come down, so I took a few pictures of him while he explored the upside-down world of the lid. He actually strung up and there and now sits in the brown and green chrysalis. I am hesitant to remove the lid any farther than to put more parsley into the pot, so I have not shot that picture, as yet.

After having the initial two twigs in separate corners of the terrarium, I realized that there are only four corners, and with several of our cats getting bigger by the day, I knew there wouldn't be enough room, and I wasn't sure if they would double up, or not. I went out to the garden and brought in a soil-filled flower pot and another handful of sticks that I was able to trim down to size. I put the initial two twigs into the soil and placed in on one end of the terrarium, and added more sticks as our little friends strung themselves up. To date, we've got six sticks in the pot, and STILL have more little instars eating us out of house and home. It's almost like a chrysalis-condo community in there.

We are hoping that the initial two will decide to come out over the coming week or so. As that happens, I will do my best to get home to take the pictures I am hoping to get and share with you. It seems, however, that even if I miss one of the initial butterflies, we will surely have enough opportunities to watch the remaining 17 or so. :)

Until next time!

The Butterfly Chronicles - Part IV

Wow! Talk about a quick few days!

It is now Sunday, August 8, 2009. I am blogging for the period spanning from Thursday, the 5th to yesterday, Saturday, the 7th. Honestly, nothing much happened between Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

On Thursday, I got home from work, let the dogs out, changed clothes, and did all that regular stuff I usually do after a long day at the office. I stopped at the table to check out our cats. Much to my surprise, I found the first of our two larger guys on the side of the flower pot that holds what is left of the parsley plant. He was looking like he needed some Imodium in the worst way, but I recognized this for what it was...Our friend was cleaning out his insides to prepare for the next step in the journey. Last weekend, while trying to determine what the heck had attacked my parsley so vigorously, I read that on one of the sites I hit. You know me. I got the camera out and took a couple of pictures.

Our second of the two larger cats was resting colorfully on a twig in the corner of the terrarium. I glanced below his position, and lo and behold was another "colon cleanse" for lack of a better phrase. I just KNEW theses little guys were getting ready to graduate to another phase in their lives. I was happy and excited, but a little sad at the same time. These two guys (whom I'd initially thought were tomato worms) were kind of our mascots, and I'd kind of become fond of them. I've been telling myself to think about what they will look like when their metamorphosis is complete, so that helps.

On a side note, I followed a link a friend gave me regarding using worms for compost. Apparently this is a really cool trend that composts a lot more quickly than the old traditional method. Getting back on topic, however, I read on the compost worm site that once you start something like that, there is then an element of human responsibility, taking them out of their ordinary environment like that. I believe the same applies, here, so please, if you're not able to care for these squirmy guys, please don't try this at home. Remember, once they've reduced your once healthy parsley/carrot/fennel plant down to nothing but twigs and sticks, they are going to need to eat. We feed ours curly parsley from the grocery store.

Back to the story...
Around 2:00 pm on Friday, I got a call from my son while I was at work letting me know that our big green friends were starting to "string up." I told them to PLEASE get a camera ready on macro in case something more drastic occurred before I could get home.

Nothing changed. In fact, I read that it could take up to 24 hours once they've strung up to do anything else. *whew*


Needless to say, I watched them like a hawk for several hours prior to going to bed. We woke up yesterday morning, just certain that they'd morphed into pupa while we slept. Nope. The great change did not occur until yesterday afternoon, about 4:00 p.m. for our big guy, and about 5:30 p.m. for the smaller of the two.

Please let me apologize for some of these photos. I'm a portrait & landscape photographer, and I'm not really thrilled with my macro filter, or my ability to use it. :)

I had read that most of the pupa are brown in color, to blend in with their surroundings, to keep them safe from predators. Then I read that occasionally you will see green ones also. The first is brown and the second is bright green with yellow spots. I do note that the second one found his spot by a branch from a green and yellow/white-leafed bush my husband brought in.


The following are the images I shot between #1 & #2 shedding their cat skins for one final time.

I'm still feeding the next batch parsley. I feel like it will be another week before they decide to start "cocooning," as they had just hatched when we discovered their older siblings at about the same sized. We still have itty-bitty instars, too, so I suspect this may be a rotating adventure.
I would like to thank Bob Moul for putting up the website that we found that outlined the process and explained how to put a terrarium together for our little green and brown family. His web site is here . Please visit him if you get a minute. His photos and slide shows are outstanding! :)




Until next time.....

The Butterfly Chronicles - Part III

Wow...So yesterday, I go and peek at our little family, and I see where several of the eggs have hatched.


It's so funny to me, because the big brown catterpillars with the white stripe are HUGE compared to the newly hatched ones, but that's how large the big ones were when we discovered them on Saturday. I took a picture of the littlest instar on a parsley leaf so that you can have some perspective (look at the little red arrow; that should give you an idea).




The 2 big guys are getting larger, as you can see from the pictures.


I found one of them on the side of the flower pot, as you'll see in the picture below.



Today (Tuesday), I noticed that my big, beautiful, healthy curly leaf parsley plant is nothing but twigs and sticks. I had to go to the grocery store to get more "host plant," if you can believe it.



I think our two big guys are getting ready to find a stick to attach to (hopefully, since they eat like teenaged boys!).


Now you'll notice (to the left) the difference between the two similarly sized instars; one has the cummerbund and one does not. Obviously they are both getting quite enough to eat. :)

The attached are a culmination of images I shot over the past two days. Hope that you enjoy them.


Until next time....

The Butterfly Chronicles - Part II

Ok...pay attention...vocabulary words below:

instar - An instar is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (ecdysis), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or assume a new form. Differences between instars can often be seen in altered body proportions or changes in the number of body segments. Some arthropods can continue to molt after sexual maturity, but these subsequent molts are generally not called instars.
For most insect species the term "instar" is used to denote the developmental stage of the larval or nymphal forms of holometabolous (complete metamorphism) or hemimetabolous (incomplete metamorphism) insects, but the term can be used to describe any developmental stage including pupa or imago (the adult, which does not molt in insects).

larva -  the immature, wingless, and often wormlike feeding form that hatches from the egg of many insects, alters chiefly in size while passing through several molts, and is finally transformed into a pupa or chrysalis from which the adult emerges

Ok, so with the above in mind....

When I went outside yesterday and saw those little black worms, in addition to the green-ish caterpillars I decided to google the whole "which caterpillar is this" thing.

As I mentioned yesterday, I determined that this is all about the black swallowtail butterfly.

The first thing we notice on the parsley plant are the eggs. An example of this is illustrated at left.

The first "instar" are the larvae that are black with a white stripe across the mid-section. These are the little wormy-things that I noticed yesterday morning. These little guys shed their skins a couple of times before they look like the caterpillars I noticed on Friday.

It doesn't seem that it takes too long for one of these little guys to change clothes. In fact, I saw one shedding (or moulting) yesterday afternoon. He/she was about halfway done when I noticed, ran in and told my husband and when we came out a few moments later, he/she seemedd to be almost done.

After a couple of these quick changes, the little black and white wormy-things with the white belts turn into these really vibrant caterpillars. I ran out to the pet supply store to get a ten gallon terrarium and lid and placed the entire potted parsley (host plant, as we covered yesterday), and a few twigs, just in case one or both of our cool little caterpillars decided they wanted to attach themselves and do the whole pupa-thing. :)

So, that's it for now. I'll be watching all our little buggy friends over the next weeks and will photograph any major changes.

I hope you enjoyed, thus far. :)

The Butterfly Chronicles - Part I

So here's the thing.

I got home late from work yesterday afternoon, and went straight out back with the dogs.

I noticed this HUGE black butterfly hovering our deck. Now, I love butterflies (I'd better, as I have a gorgeous one inked on my shoulder), and enjoy watching them, especially in the fall, when they seem to be everywhere. I saw where this butterfly was especially interested in my herb garden. I really didn't think much of it, being it was after five, hot as mess out, and I was tired.

After having changed clothes and gotten something to drink, I noticed that there were these wormy-things on my parsley plant...Upon closer inspection, I thought they were tomato worms, which were the bane of my mother's gardening existence back in California. My youngest son, who is wise beyond his almost-15 years told me that he didn't think they were. He thought they might be butterfly caterpillars. Again, I really didn't think much of it.

So this morning, I went out with the dogs and a cup of coffee and noticed that not only were there two green caterpillars, there were a bunch of black worms all over my parsley. So being the good Google-geek that I am, I ran an image search on caterpillars, and found one that looked like the ones on the plant out back. It seems that these green spotted mini-beasts are black swallowtail butterflies-to-be. I did some more research and decided that I was going to document this new generation of flutterbyes and blog about it.

Now, mind you, I'm in the house, and my portable hard drive is out in my studio, so the pictures I took haven't been reduced yet, but that's coming tomorrow. (It's ten-thirty, I had a photo shoot today, and have another tomorrow, so I'm fairly zonked.) I do want to say that after reading up on this, I decided to get a ten gallon aquarium and screened lid (apparently a terrarium when you don't put water and fish in it) at the local pet store for about $20.00 for the two. This evening I placed the pot with my host plant (another phrase I learned today) and some twigs about pencil sized in diameter into the terrarium just in case my big green friends are in their last instar (yes, a new word, and we'll explore that one later) and decide, over night, to flee my host plant and go elsewhere to shed that last skin before doing the cocoon-thing.

One can actually hatch butterflies in the house with the right stuff...host plant, twigs, screened lid, and consistent temp.

So that is where we are right now. Hopefully I will have the time tomorrow before the shoot to reduce and upload the pictures I took today with the macro lens.

Stay tuned! :)