A Newborn Monarch Dries Its Wings

A good butterfly garden provides both host plants for the caterpillars and nectar plants for the adult butterflies. And I am happy to report that the Arboretum's pollinator garden has both!

In the past few weeks, while visiting the Arboretum, I've seen many - possibly even hundreds - of monarch caterpillars munching away on a variety of milkweed that is apparently quite delicious and nutritious.

And in the next plot of plants over from the milkweed, there are lovely purple flowers that the monarch butterflies adore. I have spotted monarchs there, just onesies and twosies, almost every time I visit.

Not so much in the very early mornings, as butterflies tend to be solar powered creatures. But anytime from late morning into late afternoon. When the sun is there, the butterflies come. And so, my special gift for visiting the Arboretum on this day was that I got to watch a newborn butterfly dry its wings.

At first, I wasn't sure what I was looking at. I peered into the purple flowers and saw a small creature with an intense, dark face, holding onto the flower stem with one hand, so much resembling a tiny warrior carrying a green spear.

It stood there at first, unmoving, and we gazed at each other, creature to creature, eye to eye. And then - a great big golden orange WOW! - quietly and slowly, oh so deliberately, the butterfly opened and closed its fresh, new wings.

I watched for several minutes, taking many, many pictures. And though I didn't have time to stick around to see what happened next, I think fondly of the joyous moment that was about to transpire. For these were moments of magic, following upon the heels of a great transformation.

A brand new butterfly was about to get its first chance to take to the airways: a puff of wind, and lift-off! And then, oh then . . . the miracle of flight! And so a creature of the earth is reborn, and becomes a creature of the air. Of all the wonders of the world, are there any more amazing than this?

But for now, for just a few seconds more, let us take our time and enjoy the moment of anticipation: a quiet stance, the flower stem grasped, and a flash of golden orange, as the newborn monarch dries its wings.

The song to accompany this photo is Bette Midler, with Wind Beneath My Wings.