On Thursday we noticed that the upside-down Monarch butterfly caterpillar had attached itself to the fence, so we anticipated that it would soon form a chrysalis. I watched it all day yesterday until it finally got too chilly to sit outside any more; there was movement during the day, but no chrysalis.
This morning the caterpillar was still attached and still in the J shape, but not moving much. We've checked on it during the day, but nothing yet. The temperature has been in the upper 50's today without much sun, so the cooler temperatures may be slowing things down. We propped a couple of plexiglass panels up to keep the wind off the caterpillar, so we'll see if that helps.
We also found the caterpillar who was trucking so fast along the Bougainvillea branch; that one worked its way up and has attached itself to one of the upper branches of the Bougainvillea, and it, too, is in the J shape. So we may eventually have three chrysalises to watch, unless it's now too chilly for them to complete the process.
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