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
No comments:
Post a Comment