Fall Monarch Butterfly

Let me introduce to you Fall. As you can tell from the colour and the wings, Fall is a Monarch butterfly and is a female as there are no black dots on two of her black lines (lower part of the wings closest to the body.) It was Fall so a Fall Monarch Butterfly. The caterpillar was born in Southern Ontario, Canada just north of the city of Orangeville.

While at The Garden Project, I would have never expected to find another Monarch caterpillar this late in the season. Then again, The Monarch Project 2021 was my first time doing this. It was Friday, September 24, 2021 when I spied a large Monarch caterpillar grazing on some milkweed. There was a visual chart (radar) showing the Monarch butterflies migrating in huge numbers mid USA – not a storm they said. This caterpillar still needed at least another two weeks to become a butterfly.

From Caterpillar to Butterfly

The last of the caterpillars was the largest caterpillar of 18 and took a another six days to eat more milkweed than usual before it climbed up to the top of her home to spin her cotton pad and hang upside down. On Thursday, September 30, 2021, the hanging caterpillar finally morphed into a chrysalis.

For 16 days, Fall was cozy in a chrysalis. In my experience, it was longer than the usual time of 12-14 days. Perhaps she felt she needed to be strong as the weather would be colder on her journey from Toronto, Canada to a hidden away place in Mexico.

1. The caterpillar finding the place to weave its cotton pad
2. Weaving its cotton pad and starting to let go some of its legs to hang upside down
3. Hanging upside down readying itself to morph into a beautiful chrysalis
4. Its chrysalis form for the next 16 days and beside it is the previous chrysalis that showed some diseased spots only a few days after becoming a chrysalis but I left alone to see what would happen…nothing happened so I dissected it one night to see what was inside – an almost empty shell with a small amount of brown liquid

Babysitting a Butterfly from Friday Night to Monday

On Friday, October 15, 2021, it was night time when I returned home from the garden to find she had became a glorious butterfly. Was it the time to release her. Fall was taken outside in the backyard but I brought her back in when it started to rain. She stayed inside my office with some homemade nectar. Here is a video of Fall just hanging around.

For Saturday, Sunday, and Monday and once the day was bright, she would be placed on a flower where she had every opportunity to fly away south to Mexico. For a handful of times, she stayed put. I would put her back on my finger or shoulder and take her back inside for a spell and for the evening. But there was a time when I went to check on her and saw that she was no longer on the flower. This was Monday, October 18, 2021. Was very happy to know she was on her way to Mexico.

The legs of the Monarch butterfly contain claws that help them cling to the plant or in this case my hand. They tickle you when the butterfly walks – you can feel it.

In my front yard, there is a group of lovely yellow sunflowers…smaller in nature but just as tall as a small sunflower. Here is where I will photograph some of the butterflies before they get the wind beneath their wings. This is called the release but in this case Fall is not yet ready to fly (Saturday, October 16, 2021.)

Fall is relaxing on the sunflower enjoying the yellow flower and fresh air.

From Caterpillar to Chrysalis article, photos, and video.

Coming soon!

For more photos and stories, click here for The Monarch Project 2021.