Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: Black Swallowtail, 1 by catbird8

catbird8 wrote:
Sheila,
Sorry to be slow in responding. Been too busy photographing. I concur that you apparently have a Eastern Black female. Hard to get two resource books to be consistent with each other but your's is a very good reference type shot. This past weekend we were visited by (a) very large male Tiger ST, then (b) a large female Tiger, with the Florida form orange cast over the yellow, then (c) had a visit by a female Tiger, black form. If that wasn't enough, we had an Eastern Black male emerge late yesterday afternoon. Have another E. Black poised to emerge later today. Will try to find time to post shots of the visitors and home growns.

Our Black Swallowtail larvae ate dill, rue and parsley. The eggs were laid on dill. To be absolutely safe, we will bring eggs or larvae inside, then closely watch their progress. You need to be there when swallowtails are due to emerge, as they cook and fly very rapidly. Not like the Monarch, which can take several hours to dry its wings.

Attached is a shot of the Tiger male that visited this past weekend.

Good luck, Rod (mate of 8)