Today I'm happy to report that, so far, three of the seven Giant Swallowtail chrysalises that wintered over in the cage have eclosed -- June 8th, June 9th and 10th -- one each day! I released them from the cage and they were strong enough to soar into the trees.
Last August I had gathered the eggs off my rue plants and raised the resulting caterpillars in a cage. They formed their chrysalis in the cage (the last one formed 9/10/18) which I left outdoors on our covered porch all winter long with temps going into the single digits at times.
Also today I spotted our first monarch butterfly of the season. She was laying eggs on the milkweed in our yard -- here's a good shot of her on the milkweed depositing an egg.
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