Recently, I told you about the monarch caterpillar that had pupated among my string beans. I considered myself lucky to have found the chrysalis, but did not dare hope to catch the emergence of the butterfly.

I was away for a few days, and one of the first things I did when I got home was run and check the chrysalis. This is what I found last evening. It was much, much darker, and I could see orange wings inside. This morning, the chrysalis was still there, but it looked ready to pop at any minute.

See the wings?

I reluctantly went out for a while, and when I returned, there was the empty chrysalis with the newly-emerged butterfly beside it. It was just hanging out drying its wings, so I snapped a couple of photos and let it be.

I didn’t catch the actual event, but this came close. I’m so glad I left that milkweed!