Monarch Caterpillar In Winter - Original Photography
A MONARCH CATERPILLAR IN JANUARY?
I went to check on my garden a couple of days ago, and was very surprised to find a monarch caterpillar on a lettuce. Monarch caterpillars feed on butterfly weed, but our butterfly weed has pretty much died out for the winter. She must have fallen from the scraggly piece that was still standing! It was even more surprising to find her, because we have had many evenings of freezing temperatures!
Luckily, my neighbor still has a good stock of tropical milkweed which grows throughout the winter, so I got a few twigs form her garden, placed them in a jar of water, and placed it all inside the small butterfly tent. Within minutes, the caterpillar was eating hungrily.
What will happen when she emerges as a butterfly though? I am hoping that there will be enough nectar around for her to feed on. I will certainly grab some plants from the nursery when the time comes. A bit of research on the web has shown that maybe she can survive! Poor thing should have been in Mexico at this time of year! I have read that it's the tropical variety of milkweed that causes some monarchs to hang around and lay more eggs instead of flying south!
Image © Diane Macdonald. All Rights Reserved.
Camera: iPhone 8 Plus
Image © Diane Macdonald. All Rights Reserved.
Camera: iPhone 8 Plus
Image © Diane Macdonald. All Rights Reserved.
Camera: iPhone 8 Plus
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it is scaring actually, but amazing to have it, keep sharing that kind of post, i wanna see more of it.
Aw. You're so kind. 😍 what a lovely thing to do and a great photo to boot!
I'm amazed it's still alive at this time of year. I'll be interested to hear if it makes to a crysalis and then on to a butterfly.
It seems to be quite happy still, but I will keep everyone posted!
Always interesting to see nature at work @dmcamera some lovely photography of the worm, I hope you do see the butterfly, that would be fun.
It is fun to see them develop into beautiful butterflies. We should have enough flowers around here to keep the butterfly happy, because not all were killed in the freeze.
Yes I was right when I first saw one I thought it was a light booth and is fairly similar but was told it was a butterflytent and that’s how I new what it was
It’s a tiny one and ok for a couple of caterpillars. My neighbor had some huge ones, but I’m not into cleaning all that caterpillar poop. And 🐛 poop a lot!!
they do
Awesome. Let grow together. @kunalcold
Awesome! The suspense was killing me! Excellent share and thank you! Can't wait to see the beauty!
Lucky you found her. Hope she survives as a butterfly. Great photos too. You’re making me want a new iPhone.
I hope so too. Then I'll know if it's a male or female based on the markings. I had am iphone 6S Plus that was always running out of storage space, so my son bought me the 8 Plus with some of his crypto profit. :-)
Good of you to value the small life.
Except for palmetto bugs. LOL!