Susan W
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Swallowtail!

I had noticed one black swallowtail the other day checking out and feeding off various flowers. Yesterday saw same or different nectaring on flowers then hovering around the parsley pots. Looked like she deposited a couple of eggs.

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Lindsaylew82
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Seems like the moment I said I hadn't seen any butterflies, I saw butterflies. We have 2 black swallowtails feeding from the lantana since the day after I mentioned the absence! :()

I was hoping to find some caterpillars on the dill or parsley, but I haven't yet. It has been extremely dry here, though, and I'm wondering if that has any effect...

Susan W
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Today spotted 2 cats on the parsley. Could be more, but didn't check all of it. About the right time for this. Yesterday saw a swallowtail fussing around a sprawling rue. It was nectaring, I think, and may have left a couple of eggs.

Susan W
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I had been watching 3 swallowtail cats on the parsley. All about midway through their growth, had their striped colors. Then Poof! they were gone. Keep checking, and gone, not hiding. There are numerous birds in the yard, so could have been someone's lunch.

I sometimes notice baby praying mantis on the plants, never the parents, but must be out there! Yesterday did see a mid-sized one. It was on a parsley pot next to the one with vanishing cats. Even though close to the scene, couldn't have been the culprit.

ButterflyLady29
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You won't find any parent mantises along with their babies. The male is usually eaten during mating and the female dies shortly after laying the eggs.

Your most likely caterpillar thief is wasps, not birds. Most species of wasps will even eat Monarch caterpillars.

Susan W
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One swallowtail cat is eating and getting bigger on a rue plant. I now need to keep checking the parsley pots as one female was very busy there yesterday.
How could I forget the mantis adulthood! But, there has to be adults to mate and lay eggs, and it is odd not to see them. Well perhaps not so odd as they are excellent at the camo!

Sometimes a tiger swallowtail makes a visit to nectar. Its host any number of trees that could be on the block.

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applestar
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Are we talking about Tiger Swallowtails, too, in this thread? :wink:

FOUR Tiger Swallowtails on Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) yesterday:

Image

Image

Susan W
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The tiger swallowtails are gorgeous, always welcome in my yard!

I did a check, and my big one on the rue is not there, perhaps on to its next stage. This afternoon cleaning up some pots of various herbs and plants (all market). I had ignored for a week between teaching a dye-weave class, then weather being stupid hot or getting a pop up shower aka downpour just when one thinks to go out......There are about 6 parsley pots, qt size I was grooming. Oopsies, 3 good sized swallowtail cats feasting! I'm leaving them be and perhaps won't be lunch for whatever got the others.

Tomorrow may get the cat cage out, clean up and set up a couple of cats.

ButterflyLady29
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The baby mantises you see now will become adults this fall. They will mate, the female will produce an egg case and die. The egg case will set in the garden (or wherever) all winter. When the time is right the eggs will hatch and the young will emerge and scamper off or maybe hang around and eat their newly emerged siblings. It will take them nearly 6 months to grow and mature into adulthood.

I've seen a few young ones around. Had one on my glider this morning. He/she was only about 2 inches long. They still have a long way to go before becoming adults.

Susan W
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Show stopper! Hose in hand watering bird baths (4) and spot watering drier stuff. By the parsley patch, and there's MS Swallowtail doing her egg laying on the plants. She takes a break, flits about, stops to refresh on the dwarf butterfly bush in the next pot. Routine - lay egg(s), eat, repeat. Then noticed the hummingbird/clearwing moth on the same plant. Stepped away for a moment, came back and they were joined by a gorgeous tiger swallowtail. The ts looked very fresh and pretty.

Meanwhile the blue jays had taken over one fresh b-bath, and mockingbirds another.

OK, I try for native plants, but stray! Next season will be adding another one of the dwarf butterfly bushes, grows well in large pot. Keep dead headed and it is a trooper! Mine is a pretty lavender. It's done so well, perhaps time to freshen soil (scratch up surface, add fresh) and work in some Epsoma plant-tone.

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applestar
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Those are the best moments in the garden :D

Susan W
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OK, the cat party has started! The black swallowtail cats are all over the parsley and some on the rue. I pulled some aside, put in 2 mesh cages, outside and sheltered. When I go to get more parsley sprigs to freshen their supply, there are more on it! The largest of the group I have in the zippered cage, and it is in its morphing stage, with another large one close behind.

Now for the OMG moment. I have seen the giant swallowtail feeding in the yard (one or more than one, but see singly). They are awesome! In checking the sprawling rue spotted several black swallowtail cats and 2 giants! Rue is one of their host plants, and I had been hoping.... So, of course set up another pop up hamper with the giant cats on rue.

No monarchs yet.

Susan W
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I'm getting obsessed by the black swallowtail cats. Several in chrysalis now, more noshing on parsley and rue. There are more in the yard on both parsley and rue.
The 2 giant swallowtail cats are eating (rue) and growing. As descriptions suggest, they do look like bird poop.

No monarch sightings...yet.

Susan W
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Update! FWIW. 1st swallowtail emerged today. The g-son (7) came over and we released it as it looked strong and healthy. It took off with good flight! There are many (too many?!) behind it. For me, yard, a record for the black swallowtails. Eggs and babies all over the rue, less so on the parsley. When I get sprigs of fresh rue for the cats, usually have to work around leaves with eggs and babies.

The 2 giant swallowtail cats are eating away, just getting bigger.
In all this we spotted our 1st monarch for the season.

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applestar
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Yay! Sounds like you are doing great! :D

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rainbowgardener
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In my experience, those swallowtail caterpillars have a very high mortality rate. I can have a parsley plant with ten of them on it and every day fewer. Even the ones that make it to chrysalis, may not survive.

If you want to increase your population, probably best to bring them in, in a jar and protect them to adulthood.

Susan W
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Update here! One of the giants is trying to pupate. I was out today, and before I left it was on a twig in the cage. I freshened the bud vase for the other (clean water, more rue etc). Even this PM, the one has purged, moving around, albeit slow, the smaller one still eating.

Now, the black swallowtails. At one time could be concerned. This season they are abundant, well eggs and cats! If they were a pest, would call it worrisome. There were some on the parsley, but lately using the rue. Eggs and mini new cats too many to count! I've watching several grow and grow, then go on their next journey. I have plenty in the mesh cages. 1st eclosed yesterday, and that will be a daily happening for a couple of weeks. Then the Babies! I'm running a nursery! Some of the sprigs brought in have eggs/now babies.

Ever hopeful the monarchs will be here, and trying to have clean cages for them.

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applestar
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I would LOVE to see Giant Swallowtails in my garden, too.... 8)

Spicebush Swallowtail is another one that I'm waiting for. :|

Susan W
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They are multiplying! Yesterday saw 4 swallowtails enjoying the warm sunny afternoon. One looked very fresh and was stretching while on some zinnias. One flying between rue and flowers, probably laying eggs. 2 on a hot date. Yes there will be more! 2 of mine eclosed this AM. I let one out and it flew strong. The other will be released shortly. It was still just hatched and wrinkled when I first saw it.

The swallowtails won't just hang as do the monarchs. They start to get active within 1 -2 hours

Susan W
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Yesterday I noticed a large dark swallowtail. Bigger than the black swallowtail, and not sure what it was. In checking up, could be the dark version (female) of the tiger swallowtail. The regular yellow and black ones are common in the yard.

Then today looked out and there was a zebra swallowtail enjoying the flowers. It was hitting on the garlic chives in bloom. As its host plant is the pawpaw, not sure where shrub is. I'm just 2 long blocks from our major urban park that includes The Old Forest (which is on my side of park). Thee are also untended hedge areas within a couple of blocks. Not sure how far the adult butterfly flies from chrysalis location.

Susan W
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I'm so pretty! Came outjoy the sunshine and flowers.
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Susan W
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oops. Typing on itty bitty keyboard is nuts. Should be came out to enjoy the sunshine and flowers. This one urged out of cage a bit early, and needed time to re-arrange itself and get strength before flying off.

Summerlee340
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[attachment=0]IMAG5366.jpg[/attachmentHi,

I'm new to this group and have no clue about butterflies - just that I love watching them. I live on Long Island, NY. Anyhow, mid August (2016) I saw two caterpillars on my parsley plants. I looked them up and I believe they're black swallowtails. Every day I would watch them and they got huge in a matter of days. They were doing great -munching away, but it got pretty cold the last two evenings - they were fine the day before, but this morning it appears they have died. They're not on the parsley - they're just laying on the ground in my Vegtrug. Are they in the next phase perhaps?
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applestar
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Most caterpillars will travel away from their food plants when they are ready to turn into chrysalis. Black swallowtail will take their position by attaching their back end to a - typically- vertical surface/stick, then securing their "shoulders" to the stick with two strong lines so that they can lean back at an angle.

It's hard to tell the orientation from this photo, but I think thats what this caterpillar is doing.

I've found Monarch butterfly chrysalis +/- 40 feet away from the nearest milkweed which is their larval food. I had my eyes on literally dozens of 4th and 5th instar Monarch caterpillars that must have turned into chrysalises (or were killed at the last minute by tachnid fly maggots bursting out of them like a scene from Alien, leaving behind limp flaccid oozing skin of the caterpillar) but I can't find anything anywhere. They are very good at finding hiding places to spend the next 7-10 days as chrysalis -- tho sometimes their idea of hiding places are goofy.

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rainbowgardener
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ummm ... summerlee. Those are strawberries, not parsley that the caterpillar is on. (Though I agree that parsley would be more typical).

strawberry plant:
Image


parsley plant: (italian flat)
Image

ButterflyLady29
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Since insects are ectothermic they don't do much other than set around and look dead when the weather is cold. They'll perk up and turn into chrysalises once it warms up a bit. Black Swallowtails overwinter as a chrysalis.



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