When I got up this morning I checked, as I always do first thing, the monarch chrysalis. One was very, very black with hints of the orange wing, so I knew that a butterfly would appear sometime today. I had no idea it would be so soon. Checking again about an hour later, there was a fully emerged monarch butterfly. In this photo, you can see it is clinging to the just vacated chrysalis. The wings are still soft and damp and have not yet been flexed. That will come a bit later. Release into the great outdoors won't come until the monarch is ready to fly, probably tomorrow. Meantime, the other chrysalis is also beginning to darken!