“Our baby has arrived,” Joanne Niswander announced with pride and joy!

Icon viewers shouldn’t be confused at all, because every year Maple Crest elder, Joanne Niswander, sets up a Monarch butterfly “nursery” complete with milk weed from her own garden for the little caterpillars to feed upon.

MORE PHOTOS AT BOTTOM OF STORY.

One of those caterpillars had formed a delicate green and gold chrysalis about two weeks ago, so the Maple Crest elders knew the time was near for a “birthing” Sunday proved to be the day and Joanne was present for the special moment.

Here is Joanne's reflection upon that event:
"It was an unforgettable Sunday afternoon. For three hours we sat, entranced, as our first Monarch butterfly of the season emerged from its chrysalis and, after a long period of drying, was finally ready to test its wings.

As I am writing this, our female butterfly is checking out little blue flowers in the planter on the porch. Perhaps, before I am finished writing, she will have taken wing to check out other flowers nearby.

We gathered on the front porch after lunch, marveling at her emergence. One tiny leg appeared, then the edge of a wing, and suddenly our butterfly was out. But it was so small! Not the full-sized monarch we expected.

The distinctive orange and black markings were there, but they were in miniature. It took nearly half an hour for the wings to fill to full size, but even then our Monarch was not ready to fly.

The "blood spot" dropped from her body - not the last of the liquid to be expelled, but the most obvious. The wings still had more moisture than they could hold. It was more than two hours before our little butterfly was able to hold her wings steady and crawl around on my hand.

Finally we decided it was time to put her on one of the planters. She will probably stay there for quite a while yet, allowing her wings to dry more fully before taking off to meet friends and get ready for the long flight to Mexico.

"Bon Voyage, little one!" ~ Joanne Niswander