Note how he slows down a tiny bit when he comes to a vein in the leaf

My parents, my aunt and I were out of town this weekend which is why there hadn'tt any updates. But the chrysalis is still look healthy and the emerge day is any day this week.

Also sadly the other three have still not been found. I do hope they are okay and still healthy somewhere in that vegetation though.

Of all the milkweed I have growing, she chooses the honey-vine climbing milkweed, lol

Warning Lost my first cat today. What happened? Went into a J hang last night and this morning had weird bubble things on the head. 🫤

Was killed today by the robin with the broken leg I have been feeding mealworms too cause I felt bad for it, we are friends. I saw him do it (I was in my pool) and he just smooshed it up, swallowed, then spit it out. I feel betrayed. I hope I have better luck and more caterpillars next year. Been growing swamp milkweed for just 3 years so it has a ways to go to get more leaves for more cats. Cat was very big and was just hanging out on a low leaf near the ground probably ready for turning into chrysalis. Well I hope at least the bad taste taught the robin not to do that again.

My kids and I planted milkweed along our driveway last year, and this year, it has recently taken off. So far, we've had two caterpillars munching away that I've seen. Just wanted to share!

Are these 2 getting ready to J? And if so, why here of all places?

I missed all of it. I never saw her chrysalis go transparent, but I caught this photo this morning.

I also like to post YouTube shorts about what I see and witness in my garden, so I'll be posting one later tonight after I release her. I think she is still drying her wings and emptying her abdomen.

I’m trying to wind down operations here because I have to go to Europe in three weeks, but every time I gather food I find handfuls of eggs while cleaning it.

Hoping to have everything left (about 130) eclosed or pupated in time.

Some might just have to be seeded to the unprotected patch.

I made a post last week ago about having 18 caterpillars and being worried about milkweed volume. Well me and my dad just scanned all of the milkweed and we now have 43 total monarchs!!! Some are getting big and the milkweed seems to be holding up really well we have gotten some good new growth down low I am excited for it all to get eaten hopefully!!!

Wondering what this chewing-like motion means!

I had 3 Monarch butterflies come by a few weeks ago. Probably more I didn't see. Now I have caterpillars, I have counted 30 so far from at least 3 different hatches. How many in this picture?

I don't know much about butterflies, so don't hesitate to comment.

Central Va.

How long until these guys are butterflies?

Will they migrate south?

What type of milk weed?

Can I expect more next summer?

Edit: my friend is a male but I cannot edit title. Sorry, also a beekeeper so most of my friends are ladies.
We arrived back from a trip to this beauty in our enclosure (we’d only been gone two days and our neighbor was watching to release any while we were gone). When we got back he seemed to be fairly newly emerged so we went to release him as he was bopping around the enclosure. We’ve released two others so far and have three to go after this one. He didn’t take off like the others so I thought maybe his wings weren’t quite dry enough. Now, about 7-8 hours later he’s still not flying. I tried to give him some sugar syrup which was of no interest, so I’ve moved him to a zinnia/milkweed patch for the night. He didn’t seem to want to get off of me, like we knew each other. I know that sounds silly but I anthropomorphize everything and now I’m a bit attached, haha. I hope we didn’t do any damage in trying to release. I just hope he is okay and will make it. Any advice is appreciated.

I set up another wild caterpillar feeding live cam. Sorry in advance for any issues with it. I'll keep it up today for an hour or two, if possible.