Exciting times in my backyard -Eastern Black Swallowtails

As I mentioned before I attended a workshop last year on drawing butterflies and birds into your yard. This occurs by planting both plants that provide nectar but also plants that are host plants for caterpillars.

Like in 2010 I have a profusion of Eastern Black Swallowtails in my yard. The host plants for EBS are in the carrot family - fennel, dill, parsley and Queen's Ann Lace. After mating the butterfly lays small yellow eggs on the host plants.

After the eggs hatch they are called instars; are quite tiny and black resembling bird poop before growing larger. The caterpillar grows to about 2" before pupating into a chrysalis. Of course, the birds love to eat them for a tasty treat.

The pictures show the life cycle of the EBS.