As I mentioned in the post about going to Gales Pond while we were in Michigan, we took several Monarch butterfly chrysalises along with us to Ohio. I wondered if the butterflies would survive all the bumping and banging they endured en route, so when, a few days after we arrived in Ohio, we saw that several had turned black, we were thrilled. They were within a day or so of hatching, we knew.
We hung the twigs on which I had tied the chrysalises from a window between the kitchen and dining room in Gayle’s parent’s house, and we kept a very close eye on them. The first three hatched without our noticing; we saw each of them within a few minutes, but missed the actual emergence. The last two, though, we were privileged to see come out of their shell. That was quite the experience! The video we got of it is a bit blurry at times, because the camera had a hard time focusing that closeup, but it’ll give you an idea of what happens.
How exciting and beautiful!