Nature Study Monday: Eastern Black Swallowtail

In July, when watering our potted dill plant on our front porch, I came across the most spectacular caterpillar--one straight off the pages of an Eric Carle story.  She was green with yellow, black and white markings and she had clearly been eating a lot of dill.  The kids and I found our fish bowl (which had recently housed another caterpillar whose fate was not a fortunate one) and put her inside with a hefty amount of leaves, sticks, and some water.

In a week, she hatched into what I now know was an Eastern Black Swallowtail butterfly.  The bright blue and yellow makings on her hind wings identify her as a female.  Males have a row of yellow spots on their wings and some dimmer blue spots under those.  {Eastern} Black Swallowtails like plants in the carrot family, like dill and fennel, so if you want to attract them to your garden, definitely plant some of these host plants.