Welcome Elizabeth I and Elizabeth II! They emerged Monday, July 27th, at 8:00 am and 10:14 am.
A female monarch butterfly laid eggs in my garden on Sunday July 5th… I was to find and photograph 3 eggs, 2 of which were laid in the same flower cluster.
A week later, I had two baby monarch caterpillars. I cut the sprig of butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) that they were on, and brought them inside to raise. Over the coming week, I captured lots of photographs and videos of my “Monarch Twins.”
A week after that, Sunday, July 19th, they went “walkabout”–my term for looking for a place to pupate. They each finally selected a leaf on a scented geranium plant.
They pupated before dawn on Monday July 20th, and emerged a week later on Monday, July 27th!
I was lucky enough to capture Elizabeth I’s complete emergence and full wing expansion on video, and some cool slow motion first flight video of Elizabeth II.
I’m still processing and uploading some of the photos and videos, but I was able to get the key videos processed and loaded. Here’s the link to the webpage: https://putneydesigns.com/the-monarch-twins/
If you’d like to learn more about raising butterflies, check out my guide Plant It and They Will Come, available on my Butterfly Flight webpage: https://putneydesigns.com/butterfly-flight/
If you’re interested in a middle-grade children’s book, my third book in the Putney and the Magic eyePad series, The Butterfly Detective, is now available for pre-order at the special price of 99 cents. The minimum ebook price will likely be $1.99 due to file size when it goes live on Amazon Tuesday, August 18th.
Or, sign up for my mailing list to be notified of free promotion days!
Butterfly season has been a bit slow this year, but I’m thankful to have been a part of this magical visit by monarchs!
Stay safe!
Marsha Tufft
Here’s a compressed video sequence of Elizabeth I emerging, expanding wings and taking first flight.
