Beautiful capture!

[dzyg]

I didn't have any of my inside Monarchs hatching today but I knew one was going to hatch outside. I had found four crysallis outside, all but one had hatched already and they were all male. Todays was a female, she hatched this afternoon and is still hanging on her cyrsallis yet. I have been going out on the deck to check on her progress throughout the day. Imagine my surprise when I discovered not one but two more new hatchlings on my Hosta's. You can just tell they just hatched today by how they are hanging at first. They both must have moved off their crysallis (which I am guessing where in the Hostas) and moved up to fan their wings in the sun on the big leaves. One was a male the other a female. When I saw the first one I ran in and got the camera and started snapping pics, it just was so pretty sitting there. Here are two of the best ones, I really really like these two photos.





Just thought I would share my "in the wild" photographs.

Donna

[Farfalla]

What a wonderful surprise for you! And great photos as usual,Donna!
Thanks for sharing!
Nothing but rain here today..So no outdoor butterfly sightings.
My two little cats are growing bigger by the day,though. There really is something very cool about watching them chow down on milkweed.

[Gwynne]

What beautiful pictures! That must have been exciting, to see them outside.

I found the smallest caterpillar I had ever seen today. He was on the underside of a leaf and had not chewed anything yet. I am wondering if he hatched recently? He is about 1/2 to 3/4 quarters of an inch long and very thin. I found this one in the same patch I have found all the others!

I then had my friend drop me by a couple of different patches of milkweed and he drove around the corner because there really wasnt any parking. I didnt find anything though.

My fifth caterpillar made his chrysalis while I was at work today.

[dzyg]

Gwynne, that cat is probably about 3 days old with how big it is. Here is a pic of a newly hatched caterpillar, not until the second day can you usually even see the stripes starting to form. I think an egg is easier to spot then a newly hatched cat.



I have looked through lots of patches and not found anything too. It is quite time consuming looking around all the leaves. The smaller cats usually can be found on the uppermost leaves, the bigger ones pretty much anywhere. The smaller plants usually will have the most egg/cat activity.

Donna

[John Beaulieu]

Donna

Enjoying your photos... Great close-ups and colour. What are you using?

John

[Farfalla]

Ditto, What John said,Donna!
I have to buy a new digital.. and I want what you are using!
~Hope

[dzyg]

Thanks! I am using a Canon Powershot S2IS, it is 5 mp and has a 12X optical zoom. They have a new one out now though, it is the S3IS, wish I would of waited for that as it came out only four months after I bought mine. For the butterfly pics in this post I used the zoom lens as I was on the deck and the butterfly was out a bit. For the newly hatched cat I used the super macro. The camera has normal macro (which can be a bit tricky) and super macro where you can have something touching the lens and still get a pic. The only thing I don't care for about this camera is that it isn't the best for action shots unless you have really good sunlight. I would love a DSLR!

Donna