A few weeks back we found tiny caterpillars in our garden - we have hatched a few before, so we knew they were black swallowtail butterflies. We brought them inside, and fed them dill and parsley until they formed their chrysalises.
Since then we have been watching and waiting - our first hatched overnight on Tuesday, and was ready to fly in the morning. We released it yesterday and it flew away immediately, as G waved and yelled goodbye, crying to see it go so fast.
This morning as we were all chatting at the table we saw that the second chrysalis had hatched. We watched for awhile as the wings unfurled and straightened. We wanted to take the butterfly outside before it got too hot, so we went out to the deck. The butterfly was not quite ready to fly yet, so it sat on our fingers.
G held his hand out for so long, giggling as it tickled his fingers, and when the butterfly jumped up onto his head, he was in heaven. He blushed and smiled his shy smile, and sat so still.
After a bit the butterfly went down to the pot of flowers we had on the deck waiting for it. This time the goodbye was long and happy. That butterfly sat on the flower for a long while, gently airing it wings...and then it took off, flying high and far, as my two boys watched and waved.
G said to me some things never get old or boring, no matter how many times you do them. I agree.
18 comments:
Those are simply the most beautiful photographs!!! Awesome!!! Hope your back is feeling better!!!
awww! sweet boy! looking at your photos while sitting here with frozen toes and fingertips and listening to the cold rain (or is that hail?) thrash against the roof, only one thing crosses my mind....SUMMER!!!!
good luck with the mozzies!
I agree G., the wonder of butterflies never get old :)
We've been raising caterpillars, too. We accidentally brought an insane amount of eggs home on a plant we bought (to feed the caterpillar from our garden). Oops. We must have at least a dozen in the vivarium.
My middle son isn't quite old enough to understand what is going on, but he sure does love watching the larger caterpillars munch! (:
That sounds like it will always be a sweet memory for your sons. What a cool experience!
Sometimes living where there's lots of bugs is worth it.
; )
I'm hoping for butterfly study next year!
Beautiful photos! I love seeing that smiling face!
Oh wow! What a great project Denise. Dill and parsley you say? No wonder ours always die. We don't have beautiful butterflies like that here. Only during the migration.
Beautiful! And so big - my kids would love to see a butterfly in that size :)
beautiful photos denise! and your boys' are so wise!
Beautiful! How fun:) I've never seen a black swallowtail. We get yellow ones here, but usually only flitting glimpses:)
I think I'd have to agree with him too. :)
Just amazing. Also, I've never seen a butterfly that big, especially not in my house:)
How amazing! And I love herb tip. Unfortunately, I don't think that the caterpillars would love the inside of our NYC apt. But you never know!
Oh, SO beautiful. I love the photographs.
Oh how lovely. And so special to be able to watch them tranform. We have many Black Swallotails, but have not seen the caterpillars. Blessings.
How how lovely and so special to watch them transform. We have many Black Swallotails around but have seen no caterpilars yet. Blessings.
gorgeous colours on those wings!
my girl adores butterflies. we have a few species here in the wild.
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