Monarch Butterfly resting after emerging today

This Monarch has just emerged from its chrysalis and is resting.

The original 5000 pixel image shows great detail.  It has been downsized to 1800 for sharing.

A beautiful pose for a beautiful creature.

Where are you located? Temperature must not be too cold. Which host plant species? Where was the chrysalis attached?

- Richard

We are in Los Altos, California. Average temperature has been in the mid 50's F, for weeks.

A neighbor clipped a twig with a caterpillar and kept it indoors for about a week. During that time it spun a chrysalis and emerged as a Monarch. He took the twig with Monarch outside and I came to photograph it. He said two other Monarchs had developed on the same bush without his intervention and flown away just before I arrived.

Alan

The monarch photo was taken in my garden in Los Altos, CA. The temperature was around 60 degrees when it was released. It is pretty late in the season for them to hatch. The egg was laid on the underside of a Milkweed plant leaf and when the caterpillar emerged, it fed on the leaves of the Milkweed until it was large enough to form a chrysalis, the pupae stage in its lifecycle. Milkweed is the only plant that they can eat and it is habitat loss of Milkweed, and insecticides, which seem to have dramatically reduced the population of Monarchs.

Given that they are endangered and it was late in the season, I collected the caterpillars and placed them indoors in mason jars with a twig or two. They attach to the twig and form the chrysalis. The indoor heat helps speed up the transition to butterfly relative to what they can do outside in the cold. Once they hatch as butterflies, they rest for a day and then I release them to continue their journey, which in the case of the CA Monarchs, is wintering in Monterrey.

Thanks for the very interesting description.

I'm in Riverside, and I've not seen Monarchs laying eggs in winter. Most have already left for the coast.

What species of Milkweed? The narrow leaf species is most common in Southern California.

That this butterfly is endangered is so sad. I've been interested in its plight for many years, and have posted articles and photographs:

Monarch

Do you have photographs of the caterpillar and chrysalis?

Thanks for your effort to help the Monarch!

- Richard

Hello Richard,

Simon (neighbor) and I photographed another newly emerged Monarch this morning.

The newly released Monarch flew around his home milkweed plant and returned to it periodically. Simon suggested that it was hungry.

We debated whether or not this Monarch will fly to the Pacific Grove wintering spot. The flight distance is perhaps about 75 miles. Wikipedia states that only one species of Monarch migrates.

Alan

Upon release, the Monarch settled on Simon's shoulder

A return to the milkweed plant about 20 minutes after release. . There are two caterpillars in this photo. Can your find them?

This caterpillar is about 40mm long on a milkweed leaf.

This chrysalis is about 12mm long. It was built by a much larger caterpillar that Simon hosted indoors.

Please post any of your own Monarch related pics here.  Let's share.

Judging from all the caterpillars on the milkweed, we should have quite a few photo ops in coming weeks.

Alan

AeroPhotographer wrote:

Please post any of your own Monarch related pics here. Let's share.

OK, Alan.

All except the caterpillar were photographed in the Southern Sierra Nevada.

These first two are probably my earliest photographs of a Monarch.

Native Narrow Leaf Milkweed, Asclepias fascicularis

It had a damaged wing

Caterpillar in my garden in Riverside

While the caterpillar requires the Milkweed for nourishment, the adult Monarch will frequent other plants.

Rabbitbrush

Anderson Thistle

Butterflies of different species get along fine out nature.

Monarch and a Swallowtail sharing the nectar

Beautiful creatures indeed.

- Richard

The type of milkweed is visible in the more recent photos. I am unsure of the exact species and whether it is native to Northern California.

AeroPhotographer wrote:

Hello Richard,

Simon (neighbor) and I photographed another newly emerged Monarch this morning.

The newly released Monarch flew around his home milkweed plant and returned to it periodically. Simon suggested that it was hungry.

We debated whether or not this Monarch will fly to the Pacific Grove wintering spot. The flight distance is perhaps about 75 miles. Wikipedia states that only one species of Monarch migrates.

Alan

Thanks, Alan, for the description.

I see that your Milkweed is not a native, rather, the Tropical Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica), an introduced species in California. They have longer blooming periods than our native milkweeds. This is the reason these Monarchs are hanging around rather than migrating.

Most botanists recommend that if you do have the Tropical Milkweed, that you keep it pruned back to the ground beginning in late fall so that Monarchs will not be attracted to it, rather, start their normal migrating routine. It will also prevent the possibility of the Monarch encountering an infectious parasite.

See:

https://monarchjointventure.org/images/uploads/documents/Oe_fact_sheet.pdf

A return to the milkweed plant about 20 minutes after release. . There are two caterpillars in this photo. Can your find them?

Thank you Richard.  Great photos.

Alan

A beautiful male monarch!  I wish the species luck 🍀

Male vs Female

Jalapeno's post motivated me to learn how to distinguish Monarch gender.  Males have spots as indicated by the blue arrow below:

Arrow indicates male spots

When Simon first released the Monarch it landed on his shoulder, and is clearly a female.

Female Monarch lacks spots

It flew off and a minute later a Monarch appeared on the Milkweed.  We assumed it was the same one we had just released.  I shot many pics of it on the Milkweed, including the shot with the blue arrow, which of course is a male.  So it wasn't the same (female) Monarch which we released a minute earlier.

Later in the day we saw a Monarch about a half mile away.  So they are in our neighborhood.

Alan

Closeup Crops

Here are some crops to show detail

Head detail

Note the proboscis is inserted into a pale yellow trumpet

Closeup of the male spots (or bumps)

peeing

This is the most substantive Monarch site I've found.

https://monarchjointventure.org/

More Photos of Another Monarch

Chrysalis - 12/21/22 3:27PM

Same chrysalis 19 hours later

The Monarch emerged about 30 minutes after the above photo.

Wing detail to show veins and scales

Front view of head, focused on proboscis

Detail of left eye.  Lens is Laowa 65mm macro, which has no contacts and thus no exif.

Happy Holidays

Alan

My mom has an enclosure for monarch cats to safely morph.  She took this picture one day, when I visited her.  She saw nearly 300 transform in 2021.