MJ, we need to trade.
My Monarchs are emerging and breeding and laying eggs on milkweed stems with one leaf on them! It's crazy! But no Swallowtails yet - sad.
I did have a weird Monarch thing happen. Last night, the chrysalis on the Spiderwort was empty and there was a Monarch on the brick pavers right next to it, so I'm assuming that's where it came from. I have a rule about no butterflies on the ground (stepping hazard) so I went to pick it up and put it back on the Spiderwort. It had a little trouble grabbing my finger and couldn't fly yet so I figured it had just emerged recently. It was 5pm at this point so I figured it would spend the night where it was, although it was basking in the setting sun quite nicely. So today I went out to get some lunch and there was a Monarch laying dead in the porterweed (which the Spiderwort is growing into). It died of natural causes from the looks of it (although I suspect maybe a parasite?). Anyway, as I was driving back I was thinking I should take a picture because a lot of you have probably never seen a butterfly die from natural causes. It's kind of weird. They're wings are ever so slightly rounded (not straight out) and they fold their legs all the way in. I see this a lot at the museum where we hope our butterflies always die of natural causes. But when I came back from getting my sandwich, the butterfly was gone! Apparently, in the 20 minutes or so I was missing, some predator came and took the dead butterfly away. Which solves the problem of what I was going to do with it, but I never did get that picture.
In case you're curious, at the museum we have a couple of options for dead butterflies. If they're in good condition, I save them for my boss who uses them in her educational programs. Also, we have a microscope inside the adjacent classroom where people can look at a butterfly close-up and see the cells on their wings and so forth. If they're in bad shape, I usually just sweep them up or hide them in one of the flower pots where people can't see them and the ants will take care of them. Because people will point out a dead butterfly to you every time. I'm never sure what they expect me to do about it (CPR?). I heard one of the volunteers was feeding them to the fish which I had to report because she shouldn't do that where guests can see and also (the biggie), most of the butterflies are poisonous and I don't know if that applies to fish and turtles, too. But let's not take that chance.
