Metamorphosis

Several weeks ago, a large number of black spiky caterpillars came out of the community open space, climbed up the house and formed their chrysalides. I have been watching them closely and, on Friday, the butterflies started to emerge. While this weekend was more about relaxing on the patio with a G and T instead of exploring new trails, it was an incredible experience to be able to sit in the yard and watch the butterflies.

This was my first experience with emerging butterflies. I learned several things: (1) it takes about 30 seconds for them to break out of the shell (leaving little time for removing a lens cap or the flash to recharge), (2) it takes several hours of hanging upside down for the wings to unfold and ‘fill’ before flying and (3) the butterfly ‘drips’ bright red ‘stain’ while unfolding, leaving the patio looking like a horror movie set, post-axe murderer.

If you want to see the entire life cycle of the mourning cloak in Orange County, check out Peter Bryant’s website. He has managed to capture the cycle from egg to butterfly and the mob of caterpillars is hysterical (at the very bottom of the web page).

Jeronimo Open Space, Mission Viejo CA

Jeronimo Open Space parallels Jeronimo Parkway between Olympiad and Arbolitos (the next major cross road is Marguerite Pkwy). There are 2 paved trails, an upper trail and lower trail, that straddle Oso Creek and are each about 1 mile one-way. The trail is well-used by the locals for strolling, dog walking, running and casual biking. If you are driving in, there is street parking at Pavion and Jeronimo, along Pavion Park. If you are bringing kids, Pavion Park has nice playground and grassy areas for running down little kid ‘batteries’.

The open space runs through established neighborhoods and there is a lot of human and dog traffic. I have not seen many ‘beasts’ along this trail but there has been some recent habitat restoration activities. Hopefully, wildlife will follow!