The end of one journey, the beginning of another

The day after the pupas turned black, the monarchs eclosed. I wasn't fortunate enough to witness any of the three eclosions (maybe next year), but thankfully they went smoothly and safely. All three were females! When they first eclosed, their abdomens were swollen, their wings shriveled, and a drop of red waste dropped from the chrysalis to the paper towels I had lined their cage with. The butterflies slowly pumped fluid from their abdomens through veins in their wings to inflate them. It was a bit odd seeing the little drops of clear liquid fall from their wings as they dried.

 They hang from the empty chrysalis to inflate their wings and dry them.

 Definitely a female! How to determine the sex of a Monarch butterfly or pupa.

 I think that this is my favorite of all the images I got of my monarchs. You can clearly see the small third leg pair here that give brush-footed butterflies their name (more info here.) You can also barely make out a thin line on the proboscis - when emerging from the pupal stage, butterflies must "zip up" the two halves of their proboscis in order to properly feed.

 In the images above you can see the tiny scales that cover the wings.

Butterfly feet are amazing!

After some time in the sun, the ladies flew off to begin their journey south. I'll check this great site once counts have been made in Mexico to see what the numbers are looking like for this year. My monarchs are in reproductive diapause right now, and next year they will return north to mate and lay eggs.

It's an amazing feeling knowing that my humble efforts have ensured that three Monarch females survived to adulthood, who may very well (as I sit typing here this chilly November night) be roosting in Mexico right now! What an honor to have been a small part of this epic story!