Chrysalis Macro II
Originally uploaded by tiswango.

I found my two caterpillars! There were "hanging around" on the other side of wall. The sunny side, I read upon the process on Wikipedia. The caterpillars finished off several stocks of milkweed and then entered the "Pupa" stage to become butterflies. This takes about two weeks, but the end of the process is the most fascinating.

They break out of the silk cocoon in the morning so the sun will dry the new wings. They have to "pump" liquid from the body into the channels in the new wings to make them strong. They practice flying around in circles and then take off.

Saturday morning I went out to check on them and there was nothing left be an empty shell. They were gone by 11 AM.

I have not seen this process since I was a little child in Earleville Iowa. This first round out of the garden has been great fun and I hope it starts to happen so much I grow bored of it!