Friday, July 23, 2010

Petey as a Butterfly

After thirteen days in his chrysalis, and twenty-five days since I found him, Petey is flying free.  He is a beautiful Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly.  He actually dropped out of his chrysalis this morning, and started to dry his wings.  We spent just a few minutes saying our good-byes, then he bravely flew away.
The underside of Petey's wings
Close up of Petey's eye and proboscis, which he will unroll and use like a straw to sip nectar and water. Benjamin told me all about the proboscis, he is raising a caterpillar too!
Petey ready to fly.

2 comments:

  1. Petey is beautiful! You must be so proud. It's hard when they fly away... there there there. M

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  2. Very well put together site and the photos are all quite good.

    Very impressive :)

    Tom in Florida

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