Four Purple Finches (an adult male and three females/young males) stopped
briefly in our garden in Annandale to feed briefly today. Had it not been for a
fairly amazing event, we would have missed them. A Monarch caterpillar that
spun a chrysilis on September 29 in our garden (and which we assumed had died
two weeks ago) emerged as a fully developed butterfly. That means this
individual spent 33 days in the chrysilis before entering the adult stage of
its life. Most literature states that the chrysilis stage lasts 10 to 15 days.
The butterfly was in the process of drying its wings when the Purple Finches
showed up. The finches departed after several minutes, the Monarch stayed for
several hours before departing southbound, presumably in the direction on
Mexico. (Of the host plants in our garden, Common Milkweed, Swamp Milkweed, and
Red Butterfly Milkweed, Monarch larva seemed to prefer the Red Butterfly
Milkweed this year).
Larry Cartwright
Annandale, Va.
prowarbler@xxxxxxxxxxx
