Butterfly Exits Cocoon

I imagine that most people who like birds don’t mind butterflies, so here’s a slideshow I created from photos taken last summer of a butterfly leaving a cocoon.  For over a week I kept the camera and its time lapse device set up outside, through heat and rain, waiting until it broke out of its temporary home… then the actual event lasted only a few minutes!  And because of memory card limitations I could only set the camera to take a photo every 30 seconds – I wish it could’ve been a shorter interval – but I’m still pleased with the few shots I got.

I don’t know the specific name of this butterfly but I’ve definitely seen it before.

After the butterfly left the cocoon it crawled into some potato plant leaves and you can see that it dripped a dark fluid that looks like blood (but of course isn’t).  Apparently it’s a waste product that doesn’t come from their wings as I had first assumed but from their abdomen, being released after chrysalis, the cocoon stage.

The butterfly never opened its wings for me so I didn’t get that photo.  And I wish I knew the name of this butterfly!  Please comment if you have any idea.  Thanks and I hope everyone is having a terrific summer!

July 19, 2013 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: alaska, biology, butterfly, chrysalis, cocoon, environment, fairbanks, leaf, leaves, metamorphosis, nature, north, outdoors, photography, potato plant, summer, time lapse | 13 Comments