Mind-blowing metamorphosis sequence

Monday, October 3: I met Nick Wagerik at the Shakespeare Garden at about 1:30p.m. The Black Swallowtail caterpillar seemed pretty much unchanged. I took the photo above at 1:48. At about 2:15 Nick headed for Turtle Pond to check out the dragonflies. I stayed in the garden for a few more minutes hoping against hope that I'd see something happen. Nothing at all happened and I left the garden at about 2:30.

Lloyd Spitalnik [with camera] ran into Nick at Turtle Pond around 4. Nick told Lloyd about the caterpillar and they decided to walk back to Shakespeare Garden. [It's very near Turtle Pond.]

Just a little before 5 the drama began. Lloyd caught it all on camera and sent me the photos to post. Here they are with the exact time codes from his camera to give you an idea of how quickly it all happened.:


4:48:30


4:52:01

4:52:28

4:53:06

4:53:32

4:53:46

4:54:05

4:54:54


4:58:04 The last photo. [The pupa will overwinter, and the butterfly will emerge next April or so].

Envoi:
Welcome to Shakespeare Garden, beautiful butterfly of the future. We'll be keeping an eye on you.

Note: Lloyd's website may be found at www.Lloyd22.com