There Are Four Caterpillars in This Photo!

         There are four Black Swallowtail caterpillars to be precise, each of them about the size of a grain of rice, uncooked. A week ago a dark swallowtail was seen around the fennel in postures suggesting egg-laying, so we were keeping an eye out. It was still a surprise to spot five of them in their first caterpillar stage, or instar, when they are less than a quarter inch long. Four of them in the bronze fennel in the photo above, and one in some parsley in a planter on the ground. 
            Below is a gallery of our youngsters. When they get to further along, their appearance will change completely.

          Like the Monarch, the Black Swallowtail development progresses through five stages of caterpillar,  followed by ten days or so in a chrysalis, so these five individuals (and perhaps others not yet seen) have a difficult three weeks ahead of them as they try to make it to adulthood. And for reference, below is an adult female in the garden today. Just visiting we think.

            There are many more tales to relate from the garden, which has exploded with activity in the past week. There are happy tales of garden guests and romance, and dark tales of evil marauders, which we will share in the next blog in a couple days, but the caterpillars are the best news  of all as we still wait for a female Monarch to find us.
               We will share a couple images of one guest before we go, because today in the sunshine we enjoyed the iridescent blues of a lovely Pipevine Swallowtail, another butterfly whose presence we have been missing. The pictures hardly do justice to the vividness of its coloring.