Caterpillars and Butterflies

I looked the other day and found a cocoon in nature. I watched it go through metamorphosis and now it is a butterfly and has scaly wings which are still drying. If you look close with a microscope you can see the scales which are smaller and drier than goldfish scales. It's easier to see the goldfish scale, but the powdery wings of the butterfly are also scales. I'm not sure why they have scales but it is interesting. I think you shouldn't catch a butterfly with your hands because it can take the scales off of their wings and if you do catch one release it after a few minutes of watching and looking at it, instead of keeping it in a jar.You don't want a butterfly to die in your tank after all.

I love butterflies because they are so beautiful to look at and then letting them go and watching them fly. Butterflies like to land on flowers to eat and that's a good place to observe them. The other day I found a green caterpillar in my garden who was eating my parsley. I took him off the parsley and learned that will be black swallowtail butterfly.

I love monarch butterflies too. They are so amazing to look at.

Butterflies can come in all sorts of colors, yellow, black, blue, brown, orange and white. I have never seen a pink butterfly. I wonder if they exist. Mostly in my yard I find only white butterflies. If you look super close with a magnifying glass you can see little poky things on their feet. It's fun to see a butterfly transform from a caterpillar to a cocoon to a chrysalis to a butterfly.

A monarch butterfly is especially amazing. She flies far away and then when the milkweed comes she lays her eggs. When the caterpillars hatch they don't have any color. They get their color from eating leaves. Some of them get eaten by insects like spiders and praying mantises. I usually try and save them but if they are dead I leave them for lunch for the insects.