Nine minutes.......

I felt strangely excited by the impending re-birth....so much so that I made two visits and spent quite some time at J's butterfly house today.  

It was clear that the re-birth wasn't too far away.  The chrysalis had turned very black, the wing details were clearly visible through the casing.......it was just a matter of time.  I only stayed a short while when I visited in the morning, but the when the afternoon visit revealed the chrysalis still in it's un-birthed state, I decided I'd hang around and watch.

For an hour or more, nothing was happening, though I did notice what appeared to be a small 'tear' emerge at the base.  But still, nothing.  When a passing butterfly outside seemed to challenge me with several 'capture-me-if-you-can' fly-bys, I took the opportunity to stretch my legs and try something a little different.  

The metadata tells me I spent just 9 minutes away from the ready-to-birth chrysalis so I was so very disappointed (and somewhat angry with myself) when I went back into the house and found he'd re-birthed and I'd missed it :(  Another example of me being just a few steps out of synch with life and surroundings sometimes.  Bugger.  Big time!  There will be other opportunities, I'm sure........

Extras are of the new-birthed.  Quite stunning - pure perfection.

I stayed around and watched him dry his wings out........about half an hour of slow internal ironing.  By the time I left he was looking sufficiently resplendent to be crowned beau of the butterfly ball, though he didn't seem to want to move anywhere nor take his first flight, so I left him to enjoy his first night as a butterfly in the relative safety of the butterfly house.