# Images of the Monarch Butterfly "Hatch"



## RustyBrown

Man have I been busy this morning! I am happy to report that I released six seemingly happy monarch butterfly adults into the wild this morning. It all began to happen at once on two plants so it was nuts. I have one that is about a week behind still left.

This is the first coming out. The chrysalis splits slightly just above the line of gold beads at the top and then it splits fully at the bottom. Notice how much the chrysalis changed color as well. I'm not sure what he's slinging off in the 6th frame, but don't tell my wife about it as she's in Baltimore and I used the dining room studio again.

When they emerge, their abdomen is huge and their wings are crumpled and tiny. They latch on to the chrysalis and over time you can see their wings extend. Most of these frames are about 30 seconds apart. They also discharge a nasty, muddy fluid from their abdomen as is contracts (again this is between you and me).

After a couple of hours they climb to the top of the plant and then fly away to begin their journey from Mexico to Canada. One by one I coaxed them on to my finger and then transferred them to outdoor plants and watched them leave.

This is the first of several to come. It's been a very interesting experience for me and I hope it has been for you as well. I'll post updates to this thread as other sequences are available on my pbase site listed below my signature. Enjoy!

*Rusty Brown*

Check out my galleries at www.pbase.com/jumpinminnow


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## sandybottom

Rusty, you deserve an award. That was really neat.


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## Gator_Nutz

Houston is not quite Mexico but he or she is going to have one heck of a trip if they have to go all the way to Canada. Do they go up there for the summer and then come back down here again next spring or something? Extremely wonderful series you have Rusty. Not only are you wowing us with your photographic and artistic skills, but you are teaching a biology lesson at the same time. Fantastic stuff. Thank you for going to all of that trouble.


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## Arlon

Awsome series Rusty. Just the patience is way more than I could have dealt with..


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## RustyBrown

*About...*



Arlon said:


> Awsome series Rusty. Just the patience is way more than I could have dealt with..


As long as I make progress, I can be pretty patient. It's just too bad they all came out at once - Because of that I didn't get to try different things. It's quite here now...the kids have left home.


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## Shed Hunter

*Monarchs*

Totally awsome Rusty. Thanks for the wonderful shots.
SH


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## Ialien

*Wow!!*

That was really cool!! Very niced pics!

Joe


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## RustyBrown

*I've added the third hatch...*

The second is in the background...

They are here http://www.pbase.com/jumpinminnow/monarch_metamorphasis

But here's one to get you going...


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## chicapesca

Gosh, that is awesome Rusty! They are so beautiful. You did a great job with this whole sequence. :smile:


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## rendon

Wow what awesome pictures. Ditto about them being beautiful. I love butterfly's, even have a tattoo of one.


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## Koru

> A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it had and it could go no further.
> 
> Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.
> 
> Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.
> 
> What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
> 
> Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. And we could never fly.


monarchs are beautiful, their struggle to gain freedom of flight is awe inspiring.

thank you so much Rusty, for sharing this life cycle. they're beautiful photos.


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## Dolphin

Koru said:


> Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. And we could never fly.


Thanks for sharing the story. I had read it before, but had forgotten it. My mother-in-law is going through some struggles right now, I think I will send this to her. It might help.

Rusty, great captures. I am in worship of all the great photographers on this site.


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## RustyBrown

Dolphin said:


> Thanks for sharing the story. I had read it before, but had forgotten it. My mother-in-law is going through some struggles right now, I think I will send this to her. It might help.
> 
> Rusty, great captures. I am in worship of all the great photographers on this site.


There's a lady that lives across the street from my parents in Kingwood that has been battling cancer for years now and can't get out of the house. She is one of my biggest supporters and she loves butterflies. Can't wait to tell her once I get the final set up.

Speaking of which there's another one up tonight at

http://www.pbase.com/jumpinminnow


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## my3peas

I'm speechless! these are SUPERB!


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## Bimini Twisted

This is beyond awesome dude, stellar!

Rick


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## MsAddicted

I knew I missed it while I was gone so I went looking for this thread. Very nice job Rusty, thanks so much! Beautiful images!


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## RustyBrown

*Learning*

I'll have another opportunity over the weekend. These can definitely be improved upon.


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