Day 3: Science, My Favorite Subject

Today was hectic, but not because of things like yesterday.  I haven't been sleeping great so I woke up later than I should have for a day where I had to get Autumn ready for her first day of preschool this year.  She needs to be there at 9 but its only a mile and a half away from our house.  I came down, made breakfast, made coffee, and checked on the 5 Painted Lady chrysaliseseses that we have been waiting on to hatch.  I figured they had another day or so left when I looked at them yesterday.  Today they looked very dark and I could see some wing detail through 4 out of 5 of them (one caterpillar was later than the others).

I took the high heeled shoe jewelry hanger that I had strung them on out of its protective mesh house and set it on the counter so I could photograph them.  I went up to get my camera and find the dioptic attachment that would allow me to take extreme closeups with my Nikon D7000 and 18-55mm kit lens.  This is the same method I used when I did all those monarchs last year.

Diopter attachment with step-down ring

A side note about the diopters/dioptics:  They are similar to holding a magnifying glass up to your lens.  They are extremely cheap, about $12 for a set of 4 differing strengths on Amazon.com.  They only seem to work well on my 18-55mm kit lens extended to 55mm.  They do not work on my longer telephoto lens but I've never tried one on my prime lenses.  I bought the wrong size of diopters about 4 years ago and they collected dust until I found out about step up and step down rings, which are thin plastic rings that screw on to your lens to make up for missing millimeters.  They are also very cheap, only a couple of dollars on Amazon.  LIFESAVERS when you have an expensive filter or unique attachment that is not quite the right size.  I used to use duct tape.

When I came downstairs Alicia yelled "MOM there's a butterfly!!"

 Little stinker had emerged in the 5 minutes I had gone upstairs!!  I looked at the clock.  It was 8:35am.  I had not yet gotten Autumn ready for school other than feeding her.  I looked at the chrysalises, then back at Autumn, then at the clock.  "Autumn, go get dressed and go pee!" I yelled.  She ran upstairs so I whipped out the camera and started taking photos of the new butterfly and the remaining chrysalises.

One looked like it was about to emerge and I had to go so I set up my tripod and had Alicia stand post to take photos in case one came out.

You can see where the skin of the chrysalis is beginning to "unzip" in this photo

I dropped Autumn off at preschool and hurried back home.  Alicia was delightedly standing in the chair saying "One hatched Mommy!  I got TONS of pictures of it!"  I had showed her how to take photos for a time lapse video.  She took 105 pictures to make this time lapse:

Unfortunately it was focused on the wrong chrysalis but that's ok.  She did it all by herself.

Her idea next was to draw what the hanging, drying butterfly looked like.  I showed her the eye spots, and how the spiracles that we could see on the chrysalis had translated into spiracles that were present on the abdomen of the butterfly.  We also looked at its probiscus (tongue) as it curled and uncurled it, almost as if it was playing with it!

See the small slits on each segment of the abdomen?  Those are the spiracles that the butterfly breathes through!

You can see the curled up probiscus flanked by the butterfly's tiny little forelegs in this photo

The 4 eye spots and the scales of the butterfly's wings are visible in this photo

I decided to hang the next chrysalis that looked ready to go on the same hook I use for my coffee creamer measuring.  It is near the window and I figured it would be easier to photograph than being on the jewelry hanger.

Can you spot the chrysalis?

Here is a short video of the first one I hung there emerging:

My camera is NOT known for its video capabilities, and unfortunately you can hear my lens struggling to keep up with focusing so I suggest you watch it on mute as that noise gets irritating.  Its cool to see the little guy come out though.

Something else we observed was that once the butterfly had been hanging there for a bit a few drops of what I call "Butterfly Blood" but is really just excess "frass" drips out of their...butts:

As each butterfly hatched I would let one dry and then when it seemed that its wings were stiff enough I moved it into the Butterfly Pavilion where I placed a potted plant and a vase of Cosmos from my garden. 

 Each butterfly would hang for a while and then it would start pumping its wings and turn itself upright.  It takes 12 hours for their wings to completely stiffen.

This one is a female.  You can tell because males have more colorful eye spots on the bottom half of their wings.  Females also have thicker abdomens.

This is what the chrysalis looks like after it has been opened and emptied:

Back (dorsal) view

Front view

All in all it was a lot of fun to hatch these guys!  Not quite as rewarding as finding the eggs outside and raising them all the way through but it made my day to both see them myself and see Alicia appreciating the process and being involved and interested in them.  She is usually terrified of insects so I'm hoping this will give her a greater appreciation for them.  I'm looking forward to next year and will order a variety of butterfly eggs/caterpillars starting much earlier in the season.

Oh and she did some math today completely at her own pace and did an excellent job.  :)

Here is a great link for Painted Lady and other butterfly rearing info!

Monarchs: The Final Chapter

One day's bounty hanging out inside the Butterfly Pavilion

This morning we let our last two Monarchs go free.  I am very sad that they are all gone now as it means that winter is not far away.  BUT I also am glad that this particular summer is coming to an end and am looking forward to next summer when I can hopefully have a construction-free, punk kid-free, jolly old time outdoors.  I spent so much time inside this summer that my muscles have all but turned to mush and the thought of taking walks around town fills me with gross indifference.  Honestly raising those Monarchs was the only thing that gave me any joy this summer.  You know, besides having 3 kids home all day with nothing to do.

I learned a lot about this beautiful and wondrous creature during my 6 weeks of finding, raising, hatching, and releasing them.  One thing that I learned that really amazed me was how much they seem like a fetus in a womb they are once inside their chrysalis.  Yes, they start out as a puddle of green ooze once they shed their former caterpillar selves.  In fact, watching the caterpillars become chrysalis reminded me a lot of labor.  They contract regularly to push their skin up. Once their insides become their outsides they wriggle around to get the chrysalis to compress up into it's final shape.  Oh and they look like little aliens like some babies I've seen ;-)

Caterpillar moments after it's skin was shed.  Reminds me of H.R.Giger's Necrinomicon drawings!

However, once those mushy imaginal cells determine their destinies and start to transform the magic starts to happen!  They are all formed head-down and curled up.  They move about slightly before they are born and then push their heads down and out of the bottom of their chrysalis. 

Monarch emerging from chrysalis

 Most of them cling to the outside of the shell they were just in in order to dry and expand their wings.

I did have one that came out and immediately started to climb the thread that was holding the chrysalis onto the hook I had it hanging from!

Copyright Elisabeth Finstad 2012

Another cool thing that I observed was that the design of the patterns on the chrysalis really are like a mold for the body of the butterfly.  Most of us have probably noticed that there is a wing design on either side, but have you ever looked at the flat part in the back that has all the little lines?

There are three creases on this part of the chrysalis.  The one in the center is where the Monarch's tongue will form (also called the probiscus).  The two that run up the side are where the antennae are formed.

Here is a photo of a fully formed butterfly moments away from emerging. If you enlarge it and look closely you can see the probiscus.  It is actually forked, so there are two long strips that will curl up and come together once the butterfly has come out all the way:

Here is a series of photos showing the first parts of emergence:

In this photo you can see  the probiscus in the center there.  It must be an odd feeling to be born with your tongue sticking out!!

Here you can see the antennae being pulled out of their resting place as the butterfly's abdomen drops out of the chrysalis.

Fully emerged the antennae rest across the butterfly's back until her wings are fully dried.  She also will play with her tongue with her tiny forelegs.  

Did you ever notice that butterflies seem to only have 4 legs, but are considered an insect?  Did you know that to qualify as an insect you must have 6 legs?  

Butterflies do indeed have 3 pairs of legs, but the third pair are so small you would mistake them for a mandible:

Aren't they cute?! :-)

Photographing Monarchs

I personally was thrilled to have the opportunity and time AND camera to photograph this life cycle so completely and learn so much about these magnificent creations.  If you are interested in photographing them too here is the equipment I used:

Canon Rebel DSLR-- I'm not sure I could have gotten pics that were so clear if I did not have a DSLR and a 10x dioptic lens attachment.  I use the 18-55mm kit lens for most of these photos.  The dioptic screwed on the end and allowed me to get within 2" of the insect instead of the 4" afforded by the lens alone.

Sturdy tripod-- A must if you want to do time lapse photos and also helpful if you can't sit there holding the camera for as long as it may take while waiting for the monarch to emerge.  I sat watching for over an hour yesterday.

Banana hanger--  This was AWESOME and perfect to use to suspend the threaded chrysalis from!  They are cheap pieces of curved mounted wood with a hook at the top (probably come in plastic also) and you can set them up anywhere!  Here's a pic of how I had mine:

I simply folded a large piece of stiff paper to use as a background and keep the breeze from blowing the chrysalis around!

Sunlight is the best light, and indirect is great.  I got my best photos by setting up the banana hanger on a chair next to the sliding glass door (east facing) at noon.  I was able to get the light I wanted but didn't have to deal with the breeze!  

Backgrounds will make your photos look stunning!  It was not something I thought of right off because its a bug, right?  Backgrounds are for babies and formals!  

Not so, I say!  Here is my first set-up.  I did not put much thought into it and while I got pics I'd never gotten before, they were not jaw-dropping "WOW" pics:

Gee wow a tupperware lid resting on two glasses in front of a white piece of paper.  BORING!!

Its a sharp photo, but the color of the tupperware gave it a pink tinge and detracts from the beauty of the unaltered chrysalis.  I knew I could do better!

I soon learned to thread tie my chrysalis (see previous blog entry for how to!) and set them up according to my terms!

I set this one up in front of a little cloud I had painted on this chair :)

This one I set up in front of a white canvas to show how black it got before hatching

This one I hung in front of a green and orange easel and used a wide aperture so that the colors would be present but the easel would be indiscernible.

And this one I wanted to hang with the sky as a backdrop :)

If you have any questions about this process or are interested in using my photos in any way please contact me at egfinstad@gmail.com 

Relocating Monarch Chrysalis

I recently had a couple of people ask me how I was able to move the Monarch chrysalis from it's original habitat to wherever the heck I wanted to put it so I could photograph it.  Most of my caterpillars were raised in somewhat shallow tupperware and it only took one of them falling and flailing on the bottom to realize that they were not in a good spot.  I read several online articles written by others who had raised them and learned a neat trick.

First, I will say it helps to have two people involved in this process.  If you can have one person hold up the surface that the chrysalis is attached to it will be much easier to tie the thread around the cremaster.

Here is what you will need to do this:

White glue, do NOT use any other kind of glue but non-toxic white!  About 12" thread per chrysalis, and a pair of scissors.

Doing it by myself, I balanced the tupperware top in such a way that it was accessible to me but also was steady and wouldn't fall.

Taking a piece of thread I made a large loop, like I was going to tie a knot without pulling it tight.

I carefully "lassoed" the chrysalis

I pulled the knot closed and then did a double knot to make sure it was tight. 

Once it was tied I turned the lid on its side and placed a very small drop of glue right over the knot, making sure that I got some on the cremaster as well.  Its OK to lay the chrysalis flat for a minute or two.  Just be very gentle not to squeeze it when handling it directly.

Here you see the chrysalis and the white silky patch that firmly connects it to the lid.  This stuff is seriously strong.  You will need to gently scrape the edges with your fingernail to loosen it, but don't yank on the chrysalis until it is starting to peel off easily.  It makes a noise like when you peel a big ol' sheet of skin off a sunburn.

Try to bring as much of the silk with you when you pull it off.  

Take the silky stuff and kind of wad it up around the cremaster and get it in the glue.  This will doubly ensure that it is now firmly attached to the thread.  This baby isn't going anywhere!  The silk is very sticky.

Next, about 3-4 inches up from the top of the chrysalis, make a tight knot in the thread to form the loop that you will hook over whatever it is you want to hang it off.

Trim off the extra thread and you are ready to hang!

Deck the mums with loads of pupa!