Life Changes fit for a Monarch

Our guests send us the most wonderful photos. I couldn't resist posting these, which -- taken together -- walk us through the miracle of the Monarch butterflies. These lovely winged wonders have left now, heading south towards Mexico, and we wish them safe flight and calm winds.

Michelle and Eric found "Mr. J-Guy" hanging about in the back fields. (They also provided the lovely shot of the butterfly sipping nectar from a butterfly bush! See? They DO attract butterflies!)

This is where the transformation starts to get serious -- the caterpillars have been eating, shedding their skin, growing as fast as possible on those milkweeds, until all of a sudden, that's it... they hang themselves upside down, curl upwards in this typical "J" shape, and begin to weave their chrysalis.

Just before they are ready to emerge from their bejeweled green 'transformation station', you can see the butterfly within. That's because the chrysalis case is transparent. The gorgeous green you see in a new chrysalis is caterpillar. Interestingly, while you never see the yellow or black stripes of the caterpillar within the chrysalis, you can clearly see the orange and black of the butterfly's wings! It is extraordinary how tightly the wings are wrapped and folded to fit in such a small container! How small? Well, that's a nail in the wood just to the left of the chrysalis. Quinn took this shot. I'm jealous because I kept trying to get a good image of the butterfly within, and never really succeeded...

Finally, without any warning or celebration, the chrysalis splits, and the butterfly crawls out. Hanging to the empty casing, the monarch waits for the sun to warm her, for her wings to gradually unfold, fill with 'butterfly blood', and harden enough that she can fly.

That can take some time, especially if the day is cool. This one was lucky to be on the old choke cherry tree, directly in a friendly sunbeam.

Finally, the butterfly sets sail, taking to the air to seek out flowers. But also touching down on dirt, to sip up some needed minerals. Quinn caught this one at the beach, sunbathing...

Thanks for providing us with such lovely images of such a miracle.

Monarchs and Princesses

What a crown for a princess to wear! This monarch decided that the purple hair clip on Nora's head was a flower. Not surprising, really -- butterflies see in the ultraviolet range, and this clip would have 'popped' as brightly as if it was under black lights.

Leslie and James sent us these photographs they took of our Bondi butterflies while they were here for two weeks this summer. Nora and Vivian got to watch the whole process, from "this is a caterpillar" to "how wonderful, this lovely butterfly thinks you are a flower." How cool is that?

While it really starts with the arrival of the butterfly to lay an egg on the milkweed, we're going to take up the tale here, with a caterpillar hatching out on a milkweed. Leave milkweed in your gardens. It's the only plant these monarch caterpillars eat. They will munch the leaves completely off, leaving only a milkweed 'stick' behind. That takes about 14 days, and they shed their skins 5 times along the way.

Then they will curl themselves into a J-shape, and transform into the jade and golden jewel chrysalis that is so beautiful. They will stay in these for 9 to 14 days.

The colour comes from within, so as the butterfly matures, the chrysalis darkens, showing the black and orange of the butterfly within.

This is a wonderful photo showing the chrysalis just before the butterfly emerges, her orange and black wings clearly visible within.

There's no magic signal to watch for when the butterfly is ready to emerge. the chrysalis simply splits, and the butterfly crawls out, her wings all tiny, crumpled and soft.

She will cling to the chrysalis, or close to it, for at least an hour as the hemolymph (butterfly blood) pumps out into the wings, opening them up. She'll spread those wings, and practice opening and closing them until they have dried and hardened enough to support her tiny weight.

Then, the butterfly will take to the sky, drifting and fluttering on the air, searching out flowers for their sweet nectar. In six to ten days, she will seek a mate, and lay more eggs, and start the cycle all over again.

And, quite possibly, along the way, seeking flowers, she will find a 'blossom' of a different kind, and will bless one of us with her gentle, lovely presence.

Some folks ask, "how does the butterfly 'know' how to do this?" Some reply, "it's instinct." But where does this instinct come from? This is truly a miracle, and one we can watch unfold right before our eyes.

How very special that she chose Nora!

Thanks so much for sharing these photos with us!

Tiny Miracles

Last year wasn't great for the Monarch butterflies, but this year...

Guests report that hiking in our back fields is like walking through a flying garden just now, with monarchs everywhere. We manage that field, through an agreement with the MNR, for wildlife, and we make sure we don't mow it during the butterfly season. (One year, when we hosted a Star Party here for Muskoka Heritage Place, we had to mow pathways for the guests... I kept climbing off the bushhog and checking the milkweed along the trails, carefully and labouriously removing the caterpillars to safer milkweeds. It took a terribly long time, and I didn't get much else done, but I think the effort was worth it. So did the butterflies!)

Lesley described the back fields as "magical." And so they are. The butterfly farm at the entranceway to the Lodge has done well this year. The milkweed have been nibbled down to naked stalks, and almost all the caterpillars are now either out of their chrysalis', or about to be. There's just one latecomer who only yesterday spun into the jade green chrysalis to begin the journey into butterfly. This is why we leave milkweed in the gardens, rather than root them out. Milkweed = Monarchs. Monarchs, in our book, trump imported garden annuals...

Our guests have been watching carefully as the process unfolds, checking in frequently to catalog progress. Leslie boosted Nora up for a close look at the next butterfly waiting to emerge.

As the time grows close for the butterfly to emerge, the chrysalis changes colour from jade green to black -- that's because the shell is actually transparent, and the colour is coming from the creature within. A close look shows the pattern of the monarch's wings beginning to be visible inside.

Then, in what seems to be just the blink of an eye, the chrysalis splits open, and the butterfly comes out. Slowly the wings unfold, and strengthen, and at last this breathtakingly lovely butterfly takes to the air to begin the cycle anew. How anything this fragile can fly to Mexico still astounds me.

Nobody really knows how this process occurs, how we get from fat green caterpillar to elegant monarch... but if anybody is looking for proof of miracles, they'd do well to look right here.