Yesterday, I showed you the pictures from the day before of the monarch chrysalis… with one VERY close to hatching. I thought it might hatch the day I took the pics, but it didn’t.

I wanted to sleep in Sunday morning, but I had read that monarchs tend to emerge mid-morning. So when I woke up after 8 am, I pulled myself out of bed and went down and outside to check on things.

It was definitely the day!!!

I hung around outside, taking pictures of the gardens, other butterflies, birds, bees and whatever else caught my fancy – checking for movement every twenty minutes or so.

But then… I guess I got distracted and took a little longer than twenty minutes because when I came back…

The monarch as out and his wings were almost completely unfurled! (They come out all crumpled up and have to pump blood through their wings to shape them)

Isn’t it neat how they hang off their chrysalis? Normally, they would hang from their chrysalis for a few hours until ready to fly. But this guy was low, and too close to a certain ginger feline. I didn’t want him to start flexing his wings, and start attracting the attention of the Mighty Monarch Murderer. (His body count is five so far… that I know of!)

So I got the new baby to hook onto my fingers, and took him to a safer spot…

I put him on the new butterfly bush – it’s in a fairly sheltered spot, and would give him easy food when he was ready.

After that, I tried to check on him every hour or so. But after 1 pm, I got caught up in my sewing. When I came out again, around 4:30, he was gone .

I’m sure I’ll see him around the garden in the weeks to come!

And there’s still the second chrysalis…

So I have another chance to witness a monarch birth! I’ll definitely be keeping a close watch on this one!