Aug 25, 2010

Black Swallowtail Butterfly

swallowtail

butterflyOur timing was perfect! We were outside on the front porch early last evening and this is what we saw emerging from one of the cocoons that had attached to a patio plant.

This is the same caterpillar that I wrote about on our parsley plant. He climbed over to the pot next to the parsley to make his cocoon. His cocoon was green and he is an Eastern Black Swallowtail.

We still have an other cocoon that is on the same plant, that is brown. I know it's another swallowtail butterfly, but I don't know what color it will be.

According to my research, the cocoon colors can be different for the same butterflies, so we will have to wait and see. I wonder if we will as lucky with our timing to catch a photo before the next one flies away?

4 comments:

Holly said...

Oh, this made me gasp, it's so pretty. Good for you! How cool you got to see it just in time. That happened for us too a couple weeks ago with a moth. I still don't know what kind it is, but I took pictures.

Holly said...

I was able to track down the kind of moth we had. It's called a polka dot wasp moth. It's a pretty funky creature, supposedly originating from the Caribbean. I wouldn't doubt it because the first time I saw it ever was after all those hurricanes we had back in 05. Maybe you've seen it too?

Lin said...

It's a chrysalis. Butterflies do not make cocoons, only moths do that. Butterflies make chrysalis's. That one is just beautiful! Nice shots!!:)

I used to raise monarch butterflies every summer and they are amazing to watch go through all of their instar stages to chrysalis to butterfly. It's a great thing for kids to see. Learn what the host plant is (I have a feeling this one might be parsley) and the butterflies will only lay their eggs on that. You can watch for the eggs and bring it inside for your son to watch grow. Of course, you will have to provide branches of the host plant for it to work. It is very cool!!

Cthings said...

That is gorgeous picture. I really love butterflies! So nice it nested by you! Where do you live to see such wonderful wildlife.

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