Saturday, August 12, 2006

Swallowtail Caterpillar on Duty


In July we planted parsely in a strawberry jug on our patio hoping caterpillars and then butterflies would come and visit, and they did. This is a two-inch long swallowtail caterpillar, who had about ten brothers or sisters or whatever and they ate our parsely up, which is what it was there for anyway. We missed seeing the swallowtail butterflies emerge and found when they'd gone only a few sloughed skins. (The butterflies are black with yellow ornaments and look like Stealth fighters only smaller.) We're happy to have them as guests, and when my camera is working again and a swallowtail visits us, I'll snap a photo and put it here for you to enjoy. Until then, this fellow ranks as a pretty handsome caterpillar.

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