aiyah

Back in July we had a butterfly...the same type we had back in September of last year.

Well, guess what I found the other day...two more caterpillars...

guess our blood orange tree is listed on their places to eat  list

the tree hasn't really recovered from last September...

and right now there aren't too many leaves left...

hoping the tree won't die...

ps we are waiting for typhoon 23 (Nakri) to pass by, 22 (Haling) did a lot of damage on Hachijojima and looks to pass there again, hoping everyone will be able to stay safe

sunday morning

Sunday morning, I checked on the cocoon and it looked like it would emerge at any time...

After showing the photo to Satoshi, I went back out on the lanai

And it had already emerged from its cocoon!

I ran back inside to get my phone

And barely got this video...

I think this is the same species that we had last year and even if this species is not good for my blood orange plant (because it eats the leaves), we were still happy to be able to see it emerge and go on its way.

kinda empty nest

Tuesday, two pupa "hatched".

When I woke up, they were still pupa and then when I looked again...one "hatched" and was a butterfly! (tap on the photo to view the video)

(The one pupa that got “gnawed” by one of the caterpillar, is still a pupa, we’re gonna wait to see if it will turn to a butterfly, or not.)

After "hatching", we brought them outside and the smaller of the two pupa "hatched", its wings were all scrunched (tap on the photo to view the video)

Apparently they need an hour or more to get their bearings and wings in working order.

We're kinda sad because they left, but (we still hope that gnawed pupa makes it) and we appreciate learning about them and their different stages.

FYI this was a citrus swallowtail not too good for citrus trees (blood orange)…