A lot of the pictures I take here at the Mariposario don’t make it onto the blog but do get posted on our facebook. For those who check both I try not to double up on pictures and info too much but today’s series of facebook posts seemed too good not to share here too. (If you want to see whats going on our facebook page you can find us at Mariposario Montezuma Gardens).
There are so many moments of change and transformation we get to watch first hand here in the butterfly garden. Like the other day walking through the garden at dusk I noticed this Owl caterpillar hanging upside down getting ready to form. I rushed out the next morning to check and sure enough there was a chrysalis in place of caterpillar that been there the night before.
Siproeta stelenes (Malachite)
Mycelius cyaniris (Blue Wave)
Its my habit first thing in the morning to go straight into the butterfly garden and see if anything has emerged. Today nothing had. Still, Aurelie (our workstay volunteer) and I noticed that some of the pupas had changed color and we could see butterfly wings through the now semi-transparent chrysalises. After breakfast Aurelie checked again… and this time there they were! Empty chrysalises with beautiful new butterflies drying off beside them.
….
After writing this I went and gave a butterfly tour. One little boy noticed this green caterpillar under the railing of our foot bridge. A great find! This is a blue morpho caterpillar in its final stage before changing into a chrysalis. Guess I’ll be running out to check it tomorrow morning too!
