I just released three more from a cage that had a dozen first instar larvae from Monarch Watch.
I found a BONUS! Actually, two bonuses. The cage was clean when I put the MW larvae in it, and they all went into Chrysalises more than a week ago. Most have emerged, so I was cleaning the cage a bit. I took out a small potted milkweed plant that had been in there for 10 days or so, and observed a small (half inch) larva clinging to it, still munching the plant. It can't be from the original 12, since it would have died had it not grown fully by not. My best guess is that while the plant was outside, a wild or released female planted a tiny egg on the underside of one of the leaves, and it came inside with the plant to join its big brothers and sisters! When butterflies first emerge from their chrysalises, their wings are wet, folded and weak. They need to dry the wings out, slowly flapping the wings, before they can fly, and this process takes from a few hours to a day. When I removed the three butterflies from the cage this morning, one at a time, a took them out to our deck, and placed them on the leaves of a large potted tropical mikweed there. While watching them enjoy the gentle morning sun, I noticed three large plump lavae on that same plant. The could not be from any of the larvae I received and placed into one of my three cages, so they could have gotten their only by a wild or released female Monarch laying eggs on that plant, right in the middle of our deck. I find that very rewarding. As many of you know, the population of Monarchs, especially those who migrate up and down the eastern US from Mexico, has declined drastically over the last 10-15 years. Every new Monarch released into the wild in its natural range is therefore a small victory. Dan Matyola *https://tinyurl.com/DJM-Pentax-Gallery <https://tinyurl.com/DJM-Pentax-Gallery>* On Sat, Aug 22, 2020 at 2:12 AM Alan C <[email protected]> wrote: > Great stuff! Roughly how many do you release each year? > > Alan C > > On 22-Aug-20 06:46 AM, Daniel J. Matyola wrote: > > I thought that I was in a rut, taking too many images of butterflies with > > my smc FA 100 mm F 2.8 Macro, so I decided to try something > > entirely different. > > > > Releasing a Monarch from one of my butterfly cages: > > > > http://dan-matyola.squarespace.com/danmatyolas-pesos/2020/8/21/in-hand > > > > K-5 IIs, smc DA 35 mm F 2.8 Macro Limited, (single) hand held <g> > > Comments are invited and appreciated. > > > > newly emerged Dan Matyola > > *https://tinyurl.com/DJM-Pentax-Gallery > > <https://tinyurl.com/DJM-Pentax-Gallery>* > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
