From our recent retreat at Camp Lakeview with our homeschool group:
A katydid! He was friendly. He stuck around the eating area almost the entire trip!
September 9, 2019: Eldon discovered this beautiful caterpillar in our front yard:
We immediately brought him inside to learn about him. It turns out, it's a monarch caterpillar!
We fed him leaves (they do eat many types of leaves as caterpillars, not just milkweed,) and we watched him grow. He even got to visit our homeschool co-op for a presentation in this form!
I wish we had measured him immediately. It seemed like he grew right before our eyes! He's so nice and juicy! Pretty soon his color started to change a little bit... and then, this:
Another day, and to our amazement we woke up to find THIS:
September 13, 2019
Did you know that caterpillars drop their butts when they transform like this? Yep, it was news to me, too. It was laying at the bottom of the container, just a few legs and a backside!
We suspect that a sour cream container lid may not have been the best place for a chrysalis. After a few too many viewings, he got knocked off. The boys were heartbroken (thinking they killed him,) but Google to the rescue! You CAN reattach a chrysalis (or even just prop it upright.) We used dental floss and tied it right back up!
As the days went by, I often heard, "I think it's just dead. It's sitting there." But soon, you could see the wing pattern showing through! Each day we watched the color slowly change.
(September 22, 2019)
He looked like this today, too, before we went to the park for the morning. When we came home, Eldon checked on him like he always does, and suddenly: JOY! CELEBRATION! MIRACLE OF MIRACLES!
He finally emerged!
And we learned- he's actually a SHE!
We decided to name her Mary Anne.
We released her a couple hours after we discovered her (when it looked like her wings were dry and she was getting antsy!)
I thought it was wonderful that she flew around the yard a few times for us!
We discovered this awesome buggy log at Jefferson Memorial Forest. It was full of ants; and we weren't sure about the white bugs- baby ants or termites? It is clear that some of the ants were guarding babies (eggs). After some research, we are pretty sure that the wiggly white bugs are actually termites (Peter and Eldon were right!)
