Beautiful Caterpillar

I found this little guy on the terrace in the parsley pot when I went out to snip some herbs for dinner this evening. Now I know why our parsley crop is so measly –  it’s being eaten!

This black swallowtail (also known as a parsley worm) will be a gorgeous Monarch butterfly very soon if the birds don’t get him. I think I”ll leave him alone for now. The season is almost over, and he’s too pretty to squash.

3 Responses to Beautiful Caterpillar

  1. Actually the black swallowtail will become a gorgeous black swallowtail, not a monarch 🙂

    They are beautiful, but I resent their mowing of my parsley!

    • You’re right. I fell like Lucy in Charlie brow, singing that great song called “Little known facts” –

      This is an elm tree.
      It’s very little,
      But it will grow up into a giant tree, an oak.
      You can tell how old it is by counting its leaves.

      You got me!

      Thanks.

      Peggy

  2. I raise monarchs – their caterpillars are very fussy eaters – only milkweed, and nothing else!

    Enjoy your little friend. If you are lucky, you’ll see it make its crysalis, and possibly emerge as a butterfly 10 days later!

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