Tag Archive | Butterflies
How Did the Butterfly Get Its Name?
Personally, I always thought this beautiful insect should be called a flutter-by, not butterfly. Although, sometimes I call them special words I cannot post here when they don’t cooperate when I am trying to photograph them. Some think the butterfly got its name because many of the European butterflies were the color of butter and thus […]
Newborn Beauties Float on Gentile Breezes to Begin Their Journey of Life
Jade green Monarch chrysalids dangle from the backyard plants, windowsills and even the barbecue. Anne and I wait with great anticipation for ten days to pass to see these orange beauties rupture from their diaphanous sheaths. We know this is about to happen when the chrysalis begins to turn black. Within 24 hours, a new […]
Little Miracles in Arbor Lakes
Hanging from backyard plants and sometimes the house windowsills are small jade green sacs where Monarch butterfly caterpillars are transforming into adult butterflies. Each caterpillar’s stomach, intestines and other internal organs disintegrate into embryonic soup that will give rise to wings, legs, head, thorax and abdomen and new internal organs. This process uses so much […]
So You Think You Gained Weight!
The small milkweed jungle in our backyard is alive with Monarch caterpillars of all ages. Some caterpillars busily chew leaves and others crawl up or down milkweed stems to find fresh foliage to eat. One caterpillar is fully grown and sneaks away from the jungle to look for a quiet safe place to form its pupa. […]
Restless Caterpillars
Each morning Anne scours the milkweed plants for her monarch caterpillars. We know that some of them are large enough to go through the next stage of their life cycle when they transform from larvae to pupa to adult. Some caterpillars have gone astray and Anne enlists my services to help her find them. Knowing […]
naturechirp 