Tuesday, July 19, 2011

New Visitors in Herbville

Swallowtail butterfly's caterpillar stage. Click on image to enlarge and see my new flashy friend in detail!

In the Swallowtail Butterfly post below, I linked to a website containing the full life cycle of these creatures. There were well-detailed photos of the various stages, including its caterpillars. They're quite interestingly striped and brightly colored, and the text mentioned that they preferred carrot plants, including dill and parsley. On a whim, I went out to my veggie garden's herb section and found not one, but two Swallowtail caterpillars. The larger of the two is on one of my dill plants, above. There is a smaller one on a parsley stem next to it. I really hope they make it all the way through to butterfly! With all the chipmunks and birds we have around here, they might just be too out in the open to last... I'll keep up with the photos as long as they're gracing us with their presence.

3 comments:

  1. For a minute there I thought I had fallen down the Rabbit Hole: "Who are you?"

    Caterpillar: Recite.

    Alice: Oh. Yes sir. How doth the little bumblebee improve each...

    Caterpillar: Stop. That is not spoken correctically. It goes: How doth the little crocodile improve his shining tail. And pour the waters of the Nile, on every golden scale. How cheerfully he seems to grin, how neatly spreads his claws. And welcomes little fishes in, with gently smiling jaws.

    Alice: Well, I must say, I've never heard it that way before.

    Caterpillar: I know. I have improoooved it.

    ;) have a good day all...

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  2. They sell a butterfly kit that can be sent directly to your house by mail. The kit includes a transparent box, food and lave. I had used this for a biology presentation 100 moons ago.

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