Chrysalis!

Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar Attached

Cindy was pruning the Bougainvillea in the front yard yesterday when she noticed a Monarch butterfly caterpillar had attached itself to one of the Bougainvillea branches and curled up as if it was going to begin forming a chrysalis.

Monarch Chrysalis

We watched it and a couple of other caterpillars for about half an hour.  One of the other caterpillars was chugging purposefully along one of the branches and the other had curled up under one of the wrought iron curlicues on the fence beside the Bougainvillea, so we thought there was a possibility that they might also be ready to start forming a chrysalis, but they had not attached themselves to anything.

We went in to lunch for about an hour and when we came back out, the first caterpillar had already completed its chrysalis.  We were astonished at how much it resembled a leaf; I'm sure that's its best protection when it's completely immobile in the chrysalis.

Our friend Mari, who also has Asclepia plants and harbors Monarch caterpillars, says it usually takes about a week for the butterflies to hatch out, so we'll keep watching this one.

What's This One Doing?

In the meantime, we completely lost sight of the one that was heading along the branch, but the other one is still on the fence as of today.  We don't know if he's getting ready to attach, or is just confused, but we'll keep an eye on that one, too.