Monarch Butterfly
Rescue - 2010
For the past few years I
have had a small area of my backyard set aside for a stand of Milkweed in hopes
of Monarch Butterflies would use it for breeding.
Keeping up the project of planting Butterfly Bushes in others yards to help make Mississauga a
Butterfly friendly City.
Last year's Grand Total = 104
2010 Grand Total = 291
(at least)
Grand Total from 2006 is at least =
1,014
This years was about getting the community more involved and that
was a great success.
This year was about creating a better butterfly garden and again a great
success.
Lots of great pictures, video and special features - so bug me to post more,
show you can, I need to know.
Under Construction - very much so.
Persons of note who
attended the Monarch release.
More effort is being given to getting the public to come out and help set the
butterflies free
- to get everyone involved.
How to make a
Monarch Butterfly
garden
&
get Butterfly Bush!
Thanks to Mississauga Community Support.
Events & Projects;
Learn something everyday - if lucky.
These pictures clearly show that
the chrysalis changes shape!
VIDEO - NEW for 2010
(The
YouTube site where all these & more video are posted.)
The MAIN INDEX page
for
Monarch Butterfly
Rescue in Mississauga
&
View pictures of other Years
Successes.
Their
discoveries - improvements -
surprises
- the joy, smiles of
the community and their children.
Other web-sites dealing with Monarch Butterflies.
May - June - July - August - September - October
Over the winter Ms. Hucker had a Black
Swallowtail cocoon in a cool place and surprise it gave birth to butterfly.
Here are some pictures taken and shared with her.
How is this for colours - click to enlarge?
Want outies !!!
May 27, 2010
The UTM -
NDP planting a Butterfly Garden
at the
University of Toronto - Mississauga.
 Over view of location of the new U of T - Mississauga butterfly garden. The set-up used, down by Mississauga Road. |
The Master Plan!
|
 A special thanks to the lean, mean, hole digging machine! The soil around this dried up storm-water pond is mostly rocks and digging it is a very hard task. If it were not for his efforts we would have died in the HOT SUN and the holes not big enough to even bury us in. |
 Well what we call this picture? More of all the hard work with a cloudless sky and
hot day. |
Well, there is always someone doing paper work as the rest labour in
the sun.
|
|
 Who is this extra hard working old guy? Afterwards made sure each plant got 3 coffee cups of water. 
 |
|
|
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|
June 23, 2010
!!!! Earth Quake !!!!
in
!!!! Mississauga !!!!
No joke at about 1:45 pm I was at computer and felt a shaking more then a
really, REALLY
big truck going by. Luck it was not a problem (about a 5.5) - last time I
felt the earth move was with I logged onto the Internet for the first time,
Hmmmm.
First Monarch Butterfly of 2010
A few hours later get the call from my Dad that we are being visited by a
Monarch Butterfly.
He has seen one or two in the last week or so.
This was the first time I had a chance to get a picture and as people always ask
when do they come here is the answer for this year. Also, the Milkweed has
been starting to bloom for past week or so and the Butterfly Bush is about to.
It was bit shy, so didn't get better pictures.
June 24, 2010
June 27, 2010
Frank de Jong
The Ex-Leader of
the Green Party of Ontario, who has visited the Cawthra Bush and been at one
of the Monarch Butterfly releases.
He is also part of the group given a Butterfly Bush to grow, he lives in
Toronto.
He sent me a picture of the first Monarch Butterfly spotted in his yard.
June 30, 2010
July 2, 2010
July 3, 2010
First breeding pair of Monarch Butterflies
was spotted!
There were on some potted plants for the Butterfly garden when I walked by
the they took flight.
Well one did - the other just hung on upside down for dear life.
July 4, 2010
The very first egg for 2010
has been found.
In total 67 eggs were found this day and in all likelihood were
from the breeding pair saw the day before.
As usual the mother butterfly lays most of her eggs on the leaves of very small
Milkweed plants and not the full grown and flower ones.
Speaking of eggs on leaves, usually there is only one per leaf
but in the picture below there can be 2 and 3.
Can you see the leaf with 3 - (hint, it in a strange place on leaf, its top)?
People wonder about what a Monarch egg looks like and my pictures
show that and many others out there that are clearer show.
However there are things on bottom of a Milkweed leaf that can look like an egg.
In the picture below it shows Milkweed sap that has leaked out of a vein (usual
clue) and has the general shape of a egg,
its is very white to start, then goes darker yellow with time.
July 5, 2010
Such a sight - love and Monarch Butterflies in the air.
Hard to catch the all too brief Honeymoon for Monarch Butterflies.
What was hoped, has happened - that when you plant a food source as good as the
Butterfly Bushes are and Milkweed,
a male will stake out the area and fly around
most of the time saying here I am ladies check out pad.
Also, drives off
other males.
All in all, keeps the air alive with butterflies doing this and that.
What more could a garden hope for?
And the colours!
This is the other kind of Butterfly that has staked out my
Butterfly Bushes.
July 6, 2010
The very first Caterpillars of the year and boy did
they hatch out fast!
We are in middle of heat wave so that not only gets the Monarchs to breed but
speeds up the egg to butterfly process.
July 7, 2010
July 8, 2010
July 9, 2010
July 10, 2010
Of the 67 eggs found only 59 caterpillars are still left.
Other eggs are found as well.
July 11, 2010
Counting all eggs (before hatch), & caterpillars = 150
July 12, 2010
July 13, 2010
July 14, 2010
First group (67)
Chrysalis on the top = 13
Caterpillars =
Dead = 2
July 15, 2010
July 16, 2010
Well here we are and things are really heating it up - literally.
This is the top from the 67 Aqu., first of the year - eggs on July 4th.
It has been very hot for the past few weeks and they have been going through
their life cycle much faster.
This poor one has been bitten a few times and bleeding, to death.
Here is the top from the other Aqu. - hay can you see the pupa dance?
Here are some really special pictures that prove you can look at something for
years then suddenly see what never saw before.
YES - look close at this picture and those in the back.
I was of the mind that when the Monarch caterpillar sheds its caterpillar skin
to the chrysalis beneath, the shape of the chrysalis was fixed from the start to
the shape of the butterfly that would emerge in a week or so.
NOT SO.
In fact these pictures clearly show that the
chrysalis changes shape as the body
beneath changes (before it hardens)!
See how wings of the Monarch caterpillar dancing (its way to shake off the old
caterpillar skin),
are not size that can be seen on the others chrysalis - they have to grow more
before the chrysalis hardens.
See how they reach most of the way up their sides and new chrysalis is about a
third what should be the finial size.
Also, the chrysalis will need to smooth out a lot, mostly in its face.
We all know about the gold spots (metal shiny), on the chrysalis, some over
where its eyes will form, maybe to keep the light out as they do.
How it looks the next day.
 You got to check out the details of what a butterfly face looks like just after the caterpillar skin pulls back. |
 Same here - see how the details change in a short time and what and where things will be. |
 Picture of its side as it rests for a second. |
 Details of face are smoother. Can see the parts of caterpillar still. |
 Interesting how there are pits in its side as it strains to move around. |
 At the end the old skin is gone. |
Here are some of the other caterpillars on the go - not to go.
First group (67)
Chrysalis on the top = 49
Caterpillars = 7
Dead = 2
Other Aqu
Chrysalis on the top = 19
Caterpillars = 36
Bowl for eggs & very small
Eggs = 24
Caterpillars = 32
Grand TOTAL for all = 170
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies HATCHED TODAY =
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies to DATE =
July 17, 2010
Prized Pictures of a Western Tiger Swallowtail sunning itself on one of my Butterfly Bushes.  A hard butterfly to get picture of in these parts and harder to get so close. Its main colour is yellow but in the sun it gets washed-out.  |
Also, some egg laying, this picture was taken from the
top, an unusual angle.
July 18, 2010
Started a new experiment to answer the age old
question - how many leaves does a caterpillar eat?
Setting a side on jar for a couple caterpillar to grow up in and see how it
goes.
July 19, 2010
First group (67) - Caterpillars = all gone
July 20, 2010
First group (67) - Chrysalis = 9 changing colour
July 21, 2010
First group (67) - Monarch Butterflies = 9
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 11
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 11
July 22, 2010
First group (67) - Monarch Butterflies = 14
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 16
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 27
July 23, 2010
First group (67) - Monarch Butterflies = 22
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 32
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 59
July 24, 2010
Visit
from teacher, Katherine Hunter, who was with the
Monarch Teacher Network of Canada,
and sad to hear that group no longer around.
Gave her 24 caterpillars, let some butterflies go, first of the year for her and
she gave me a plant.
Later in the day wasps twice attacked Monarch
Butterflies, stopped them.
First group (67) - Monarch Butterflies = 5
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 15
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 75
July 25, 2010
First group (67) - Monarch Butterflies = 4
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 9
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 83
July 26, 2010
First
group (67) - Monarch Butterflies = 3
Last one of this group & in the hot days of this year they make to butterflies
fast.
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 9
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 92
July 27, 2010
1
found on floor, they like to escape when cleaning and wonder - if they no longer
can find food,
do they go to chrysalis and still survive or were they ready to any ways?
1 not get out of chrysalis, so help alive but wings will never pump up.
1 bad wings, put on flower and gone come back.
1 not fully make to chrysalis properly.
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 6
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 98
July 28, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 7
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 105
July 29, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 8
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 113
July 30, 2010
Visit
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 5
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 118
July 31, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 2
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 120
Visit from fellow from Jamaica, first international visitor and kids for release.
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 9
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 129
Crippled Wings TODAY = 2 TOTAL = 2
Aug. 2, 2010
Find more eggs, here and there, not in large groups but about 30 total.
Lots of evidence of eggs and small caterpillars being eaten, that I missed.
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 7
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE =
136
Aug. 3, 2010
Aug. 4, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 1
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 137
Aug. 5, 2010
Aug. 6, 2010
Aug. 7, 2010
Aug. 8, 2010
Aug. 9, 2010
Aug. 10, 2010
Aug. 11, 2010
Aug. 12, 2010
Aug. 13, 2010
Aug. 14, 2010
Aug. 15, 2010
Aug. 16, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 1
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 138
Aug. 17, 2010
Aug. 18, 2010
Aug. 19, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 1
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 139
Aug. 20, 2010
Aug. 21, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 1
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 140
Aug. 22, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 2
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 142
Aug. 23, 2010
Aug. 24, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 10
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 152
Aug. 25, 2010
Aug. 26, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 16
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 168
Aug. 27, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 18
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 186
Aug. 28, 2010
Aug. 29,
2010TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 2
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 188
Aug. 30, 2010
Aug. 31, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 12
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 200
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 1
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 201
Sept. 2, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 204
Sept. 4, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 227
Sept. 5, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 235
Sept. 6, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 240
Sept. 14, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 249
Sept. 15, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 250
Sept. 17, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 268
Sept. 18, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 254
Sept. 19, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 266
Sept. 20, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 267
Sept. 22, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 270
Sept. 25, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 271
Sept. 26, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 273
Sept. 27, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 277
Sept. 28, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 281
Sept. 30, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 284
Oct. 3, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 287
Oct. 7, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 290
Oct. 8, 2010
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies Hatched TODAY = 1
TOTAL Monarch Butterflies TO DATE = 291
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