First of the Butterflies emerge!

FINALLY! The first of the Monarch butterflies have emerged from their chrysalises. This is called "eclosing," and they came exactly 10 days from the date they pupated! Here is the first butterfly to eclose. Next to it is another chrysalis where you can see the butterfly wings.

The chrysalis turns very, very dark and you can see the butterfly inside quite clearly! Of course, I missed it eclosing.

 This is a cell phone photo of one of the newly released butterflies.

Here are the adult butterflies at night, still drying their wings and preparing for their long trip to Mexico. They were gone in the morning.