Monarch Project, Day 16




Monarch #4 spun its cocoon Wednesday morning, sometime between 6 and 7:30 AM (don't know when exactly as we were having technical difficulties.)




Monarch #2 just hatched from his cocoon this morning (given the patterns on his back, we believe #2 to be male). Unfortunately, we didn't get the hatching process on WMV, as we didn't expect it to pop yet (our research said 9-14 days; this only took 8). We will probably catch #1 hatching, however, as it spun its cocoon 24 hours after #2.






While we didn't get any shots of the hatching process, we did get some great shots of the release; here is #2 sunning his wings on a Swamp milkweed; just inches from a nectar-rich blossom.


Progress:

Caterpillars: 4 (currently 0)

Cocoons: 4 (currently 3)

Butterflies: 1