Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 69, 1 by mellielong

mellielong wrote:
Now for the awesome part of my day. I was a little bummed about not getting a female Spicebush when Mom comes running around the corner of the house with her hands cupped together yelling, "Get the door!" She tells me she caught one just as it landed on the cherry tree (which has the pentas planted right below). We get it in the butterfly house and I see the blue and tell her that yes, it's the female. But then I get to looking at it.

At this point, I still had the male Spicebush in there (had to consult my book first) and I notice that this butterfly is larger. Like, a lot larger. I know females are generally bigger, but this got me thinking. Then, Mom's words came to me. She caught it on the cherry tree. I took another look and realized she had caught (with her bare hands) a FEMALE TIGER SWALLOWTAIL (dark form)!!!! And it was probably about to lay eggs on my cherry tree!! So I took some cherry and put it in a container and set it in the butterfly house. I really hope I can get her to lay some eggs. If she doesn't sometime tomorrow I'll let her go, but I hope she does!!!

And yes, that's a Monarch chrysalis up there in the butterfly house. : )