I got interested in Monarch Butterflies last year, and wanted to do my part to help them survive. I didn't really get started in earnest until this year. I had cultivated some Milkweed plants and got my first cats about 3 weeks ago. I watched as they went through their stages of development, and happily realeased 10 this year. I still have one in JHook but the last Monarch emerged this morning.

The first image is one just after it emerged and hadn't dried it's wings yet. If you look closely, you can see the remains of her Chrysalis just above her.

The second image is from this morning. It is the first time I had handled one, and it is a Boy.

The third image is when he landed on the fence to finish drying his wings before he went out into the world to search for his mate.

It has been a lot of fun, and I will be much better prepared next year.

While Monarchs eat and lay eggs while flying north, they do not reproduce when flying south for the winter. I suppose they still consume milkweed. But while they travel north they reproduce and may fly north in a number of generational steps, but on the way south a Monarch will fly from as far away as southern Canada to the overwintering site in Mexico in one long distance flight. Amazing. They go north a step at a time but fly south all the way. How the instinct to fly south to the exact right spot in Mexico after flying north in sort of a relay race I have no idea how that can happen. It is like a relay race going north, baton passed from one Monarch to the next, until the trip starts south when a long distance runner takes the baton but does not hand it over and runs all the way south. Amazing.