In mid-July I noticed an Eastern Black Swallowtail butterfly hanging out on my parsley plants. After sunning herself for a bit she started to flit around the leaves and I assumed she was depositing eggs. I gently poked around afterward but didn’t see any.
But sure enough over the weekend I spotted two little black caterpillars on the leaves, and they are indeed larva of the Eastern Black Swallowtail.
This one must’ve hatched most recently because it doesn’t have any stripes yet.
This one is older and a little larger.
Their larval stage lasts from 10 to 30 days and then the pupal stage another 9 to 18 days before they can hatch into butterflies.
I guess I won’t be harvesting any parsley for awhile. That’s okay, I’d rather have butterflies!
