January 22, 2013
After spending a day studying the Monarchs in the Arboretum I decided to check up on the caterpillars every day to see how they were progressing. I have been able to make many more photos of caterpillars and the milkweed plant. So here are two drawings I did of a study of the caterpillar's stripes and the Milkweed flowers:
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| Monarch Caterpillar stripe study. Each of the stripes are labeled by their color. |
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| Reference photograph. |
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| Drawing of Tropical Milkweed flowers and buds. |
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| Reference photograph of Milkweed flowers and buds. |
On this day I wrote in my sketchbook: Over the past few days I've been closely watching the two Milkweed plants (
Asclepias curassavica) in the Arboretum. I was excited to find a large Monarch caterpillar that seems ready to begin it's chrysalis process. It was on a dead branch in a nearby bush and no longer eating the Milkweed plant. It was still. However that evening (1/21) there was some rain and wind and this morning (1/22) I was distraught that the caterpillar was no where to be found. However, after some searching I found it on the ground still attached to the branch, and alive! I encouraged the caterpillar back into the bush where it began crawling again. Later that day I found the caterpillar still in the same bush and motionless again. I will continue to watch the caterpillar in hopes of seeing it's chrysalis process or the final product.
Eventually I did find that caterpillar beginning it's chrysalis:
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| Handing in a "J" shape to prepare for chrysalis. (1/24) |
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| The following morning. (1/25) |
Sadly, the chrysalis picture above never fully formed. Typically it is supposed to be more rounded out and bright green in color:
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| Source: http://www.obsessionwithbutterflies.com/img/butterfly/Monarch%20Chrysalis2.jpg |
Otherwise, I got lots of great pictures of the caterpillar and butterfly so I will keep checking the plants for any chrysalis in the future!
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