Monarch Caterpillars into Chrysalis videos

These are just the video of the monarch caterpillars as they transition to chrysalis. Chrysalis to butterfly video coming soon!
Shorter, timelapsed version:

Longer version that takes place in real time:

For the setup I used, visit my last post.

Monarch Caterpillar into Chrysalis

It has begun! That is to say metamorphosis has begun. Two nights ago when I saw that s/he had attached to the bark in the first stage of becoming a chrysalis, I made a new home for Jamie, my adopted monarch caterpillar out of a shoe box and some left-over tulle. Then I setup my camera and light so I could capture a timelapse of this process (and will post that in the future). I pretty much figured I would miss the main event, as it was late at night and I had to work the next morning. And I was right... by the time I got home from work, Jamie had become a full chrysalis. Here was the setup (photo taken August 1)

And here are some stills from the process Jamie went through (all videos to come later):

By the evening of August 2, my second adopted caterpillar began the process of becoming a chrysalis as well, so I set him up for a timelapse:

And I adopted another after finding that two of the caterpillars outside had begun their walk-about and, I hope, found new locations to form their chrysalises.

By Saturday morning (August 3), I found that my milkweed plants were beginning to suffer from the little yellow aphids that tend to suck the life out of the plant if you don't get them under control. So, I moved all the rest of the caterpillars to my jars inside so I could power-spray the milkweed and attempt to control the infestation.

And now, by this time (9:30 pm on Sunday August 4), four of the five caterpillars have transformed into chrysalis form. The fifth is hanging now and will likely transform sometime tonight. Here's the scene in the camera right now (the dates/times are when the caterpillars finished transforming to chrysalis):

I am timelapsing the changes the chrysalis make now (this will likely take sometime between a week and two weeks).

Monarch caterpillars day 7

Today is a big day! Little Jamie has started the metamorphosis to become a Monarch butterfly!! What's more is that I still have six more caterpillars to watch on my milkweed, and I've relocated another to inside the house. This one is one of the longest/fattest of the bunch, so I'm hoping chrysalis is coming soon. And tomorrow or Saturday, now that I have cleaned out Jamie's jar and moved him/her to a new home, I will probably adopt another. :)

I was going to take this one since it's eating my flower buds, but I couldn't come up with an easy way to take it without potential damage or dropage

And now for my new adopted caterpillar (before capture):

And here's Jamie at the onset of the chrysalis process:

Monarch caterpillars days 5 and 6

Yesterday I did not get home early enough to get any pics of the caterpillars in the live milkweed plants, but it's just as well since I took so many pics today. But I did get a shot of my adopted caterpillar. Boy is he getting big! Eating voraciously... ok so they're all doing that. 

My adopted caterpillar, whom I have finally named Jamie. I'm hoping for a girl :)

Now for today's selection of photos, and yes, all six 'pillars are still eating voraciously and growing like crazy beasts. Initially I was only able to find five...

 And here this guy's brother is poking his head around...

After spotting the first five pretty easily, I had to hunt for number six. This little bugger was hiding out under the lowest leaf on a different stalk from all the others, and was tricky to get a good, in-focus shot:

 And, I got to watch what happens when two 'pillars try to eat the same leaf (they head-butt):

Now for the video of these two head-butting and eating:


Finally, here's Jamie, sleeping off her/his big meal, just after I cleaned out the jar. It's quite amusing how they can be chomping away on a leaf and then all of a sudden they fall asleep.

In case you missed them, here are the previous two posts (here and here). These photos were all taken with a Canon Rebel T3i with the Canon 18-55 zoom lens.

Monarch Caterpillars days 3 and 4

Yesterday I went out to observe the monarch caterpillars I talked about two days ago and was a little bummed to only find three caterpillars after observing four on the plants on the first day. And since I figured the other one was taken by a bird, I was grateful I had rescued one to see if I could be a good "adopted mama". Here are the three I saw yesterday:

But today... I counted not four but SIX on the plants. Today was also the first chance I've been able to clean out the glass jar my little guy has been living in, so you can see him in his jar at the end of the post...

These first two pics are the same caterpillar (the youngest one is also in the background here but far enough away that he's pretty blurry)

 (I love this shot with two of them)

Oh I'm so excited!!! They are voracious eaters though, so I hope the plants can take it.

I've also considered "rescuing" another of the six that are currently outside, but haven't yet. I don't want them to kill each other in the confined space of this jar. Anyone have any thoughts on that?

Kolob Canyons, Zion National Park (or the end of a journey)

Somehow, I overlooked finishing my posts of photos from last year's summer vacation. Well, here it is... the long-awaited end to the summer journey of 2012 with my father, father-in-law, and husband. We spent our last morning before the long drive home out at Kolob Canyons in Zion National Park. Though this was my third visit to this wonderful park, it was the first time I'd been to this area. It was beautiful and we did a nice 1 mile hike to the Timber Creek Overlook, with 360 degree views at the end.

This concludes a series on our 2012 trip. In case you missed them, here are my previous posts:

• Zion: A Three Year Tradition
• Final Day in the Grand Canyon
• Little Oases in the Grand Canyon - Day 3
• The Sky In the Grand Canyon - Phantom Ranch Part 2
• Rockin' the Bottom - Phantom Ranch Part 1
• Trekking the South Kaibab Trail into the Grand Canyon
• Petroglyph National Monument and the Painted Desert

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

Summer 2011 Vacation Photobook

I finally finished the photobook from last year's summer vacation! Yay! I hadn't realized that I was only a few pages away from finished back in the spring. I'm looking forward to seeing how it prints.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to create your own Shutterfly photo book.

The Sky in the Grand Canyon: Phantom Ranch Part 2

We were hot by the time we got back to Phantom, where we went inside to eat our sack lunches, drank some lemonade and enjoyed the fans. By mid-afternoon it was announced that due to the water breaks they would be turning off the electricity, so we went out to enjoy the creek. I had hoped to get down to the beach - I was going to jump in fully clothed killing two birds with one stone - but it was so hot that no one would walk all that way with me. Plus, with the water break washing out the trail to the beach, there was no guarantee we wouldn't have to go all the way around. So, we found our little corner of the creek, soaked our feet, legs, etc.

I washed off my pants and tried to help the newly formed rashes on my lower legs from getting too bad - the red dust must have some microorganisms to which I'm allergic in it and that dust blew right through my pants, settling on my lower legs. Then I removed my shirt and washed that out too. Boy was it cold putting that back on! It's hard to believe that I was shivering for a bit in 110+ degree weather. (Someone said they saw the thermostat hit 122.)

 Bright Angel Creek

 Footbridge crossing Bright Angel Creek

But here's the really incredible part: the clouds seem so much clearer, the sky almost smaller than it is back home, but gorgeous and worthy of better timelapses than my feeble attempts. Trying to get a sense of it? Watch my HD timelapse video on Vimeo:



Now that I've done this twice I can say with absolute certainty: If I do this again, I will only do it if I get a day at the bottom. Relaxation and recovery in addition to actually getting to enjoy being inside of the canyon make for happier hikers on the mandatory climb out of the canyon!

 HDR - Colorado River facing West from the Silver Footbridge

 Surreal HDR image of Bright Angel Creek

Next up: Hiking Bright Angel Trail to Indian Gardens and Sunset at Plateau Point

This is a series on our 2012 trip. In case you missed them, here are my previous posts:

• Rockin' the Bottom - Phantom Ranch Part 1
• Trekking the South Kaibab Trail into the Grand Canyon
• Petroglyph National Monument and the Painted Desert

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

Rockin' the Bottom: Phantom Ranch Part 1

sunburst on Battleship rock in "The Box," North Kaibab Trail

The Grand Canyon... what an awesome place! Backpacking it makes you forget all the troubles and worries of the working world, allowing you to dwell in the moment (particularly on your aching legs and sore knees). Fortunately, when you spend a day at the bottom, you get to enjoy a little of it's splendor without the constrains of carrying all your belongings and mentally reminding yourself over and over "you can do it".

So what exactly is it like at the bottom of the canyon? Rightly, I can't honestly describe it and my pictures/video don't do it justice. That does not mean I did not try to capture it as you will soon see, it just means that no camera can put you there... in that immense space that strangely feels so small, with towering peaks deceiving your well-tuned depth perception, particularly when you realize you can't even see the rim from which you came.

With what did we fill our day at the bottom? We had breakfast at Phantom Ranch. Then, leaving most of our belongings at our campsite, we did a morning walk about 1.5 miles through "the box" on the North Kaibab Trail. Compared to the day before, it was a flat hike that followed the Bright Angel Creek. It's recommended that you make your way through the box before mid-day as the towering walls of the canyon are like an oven that gradually heats during the day and is stiflingly hot from afternoon through evening. Headed North it was mostly shady and we turned back when it looked like shade would be hard to find up ahead.

 testing my slow shutter on the Bright Angel Creek

 (Once I figure out how, I will add a button to enable buying prints of these puzzle/collage photos via Fotomoto)

2 photos morphed together and made HDR

 having fun with HDR and layering photos, created in Photoshop

Up Next: The Sky in the Grand Canyon - Phantom Ranch Part 2

This is a series on our 2012 trip. In case you missed them, here are my previous posts:

• Trekking the South Kaibab Trail into the Grand Canyon
• Petroglyph National Monument and the Painted Desert

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles