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My friend Pam who works at the calendar garden, spotted this chrysals at the garden less than two weeks ago. She released, and became a beautiful Monarch and is now in her migration.I was surprised at how late she was, and it took her 3 days to fly off.I took this one just 2 days before she released.

Here is some interesting facts that explains the four stages of the monarchs complex life cycle.

During the months of February and March, the torpid monarch butterflies in the closing generation, come out of their hibernating state to search and find a mate. After this, they search for the ideal place for laying their eggs, by traveling to the east and the north. This initiates first stage and simultaneously, the New Year Generation for the monarch. Stage II � During March-April, you can see them laying their eggs on the milkweed plants, and in nearly four days, the hatching caterpillars or the larvae appear. � Then the only job of the larvae is to eat and grow up. � The caterpillar attains full adulthood in nearly a fortnight and unearths the right place for attachment to begin the course of transformation. It will connect itself to a twig or a leaf by silk and change over to a chrysalis. � In about 10 days, you can see the larvae entering the Chrysalis stage. During this time, on looking from the outside, nothing seems to happen, but inside the chrysalis, the previous body elements of the caterpillar are going through an amazing conversion, called metamorphosis, to develop into stunning parts that go to make the emerging butterfly. � The monarch, when it comes out from the pupa as a beautiful butterfly, will commence its journey to feed on flowers, simply enjoying its short life of just about 2-6 weeks. Unfortunately, this initial generation of monarch butterfly then dies after having laid eggs for the second generation. Stage III During May-June, you can see the second generation of butterflies appearing, while the third generation completes a life cycle similar to the 1st generation, and dies in 15 to 50 days of becoming a stunning adult monarch butterfly Stage IV Butterfly Life Cycle The 4th generation of this species of butterflies is slightly different from the earlier three generations. Taking birth in September �October, this generation precisely goes through the same progressions as the three others, but for one difference. The life of 4th generation goes beyond two to six weeks. Monarch butterflies belonging to 4th generation travel to the warmer Californian climates and Mexico and live for 180-240 days (six to eight months) until it is about time to begin the entire process once more. It is remarkable to note how monarch butterflies of four generations work out in a way that their population survives through the years without causing any ecological issue. They start developing to mate during February-March, the next spring, before laying their eggs. Thin and frayed during their hibernation and migration, they die at last.

I appreciate your comments, thank you.

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