Nine days after formation of the chrysalis, you can begin to see the patterns of the wings showing through. The first picture was taken in the afternoon; by the next morning the chrysalis had become very dark with the wings showing much more clearly.

At 9:16, a little door popped open and the butterfly began pushing on it with her feet.

At 9:17, the swollen abdomen drops straight down as the butterfly emerges. The abdomen is filled with fluid that will be pumped into the wings.

Watch it happen in a short video.

The wings expand as the abdomen shrinks. These photos are taken at 9:19, 9:21, 9:22 and 9:24.

By 9:28, the wings appear to have reached their full size, but the butterfly will continue making small pumping motions for the next 20 minutes while still hanging from the empty chrysalis.

The butterfly crawls off the chrysalis at 11:35, so I take it outside and put it on a flower in the sun. When it finally opens its wings, I can see that it's a female. At 12:23, she flies away.

Here are some photographs of the adult butterflies. You can clearly see the spot on the wing which distinguishes the male from the female. Click on any of the pictures to see a larger image:

Millicent the Monarch		Marvin the Monarch
Marvin gets buzzed by a skipper	This one was released in 2011	This one was released in 2010

And here's a few other butterflies from our garden and the ponds across the street:

Variagated Fritillary	Painted Lady	Buckeye
Black Swallowtail	Tiger Swallowtail	Tiger Swallowtail (dark form, female)