If you’ve seen a Black Swallowtail in your yard, you’ll probably want to find out how to have more of them. They are gorgeous.
The male and female Black Swallowtail butterflies are very different. The males are mostly black with a lot of yellow while the females are mostly black with a lot of blue (see photo of the female I raised below). Their host plants are several plants in the parsley family, including cultivated, weedy and native species.
If you find these critters on your plants, know that they most likely Black Swallowtail caterpillars of some kind. If you need more of these herbs for yourself, just plant extra for them!
If you let them be, they will continue to grow in size until they are ready to pupate.
Here is one that has made it to the pupa stage. It looks very different from the Monarch butterflies chrysalis. It looks like part fo the tree or a leaf. It’s held on with a fine string.
I have had many, many caterpillars eating on my plants. Initially, I was trying not to interfere and let nature run its course. However, I’ve found that the caterpillars eat ALL of the dill and then most don’t make it into their chrysalis. I keep planting more and more dill but then the caterpillars disappear (too early to pupate).
I decided to purchase this butterfly enclosure on Amazon to help them. I feel like this is minimal interference with nature but at the same time protecting them from those horrible parasitic wasps and other predators.
So while I was setting this up, a butterfly came into the patio area. At first I thought it was another Black Swallowtail…. but upon closer inspection, I knew it wasn’t. As you can imagine, I got REALLY excited, grabbed my camera and started following it around.
After I came back inside and read through my Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America book, it is a Red-Spotted Purple. They believe it mimics the Pipevine Swallowtail, a butterfly that is distasteful to birds. It is mostly black with blue iridescence with red-orange spots near margin and hind wing base. It’s host plants are willows, cottonwoods, poplars and related trees.
So exciting! It’s not every day that I find a new kind of butterfly (new to me).
Isn’t it beautiful? Have you ever seen one in the wild?
