Pour yourself a cup of coffee and prepare to fall in love again. I’ve been sooooo excited to share my diary of a certain cute spicebush swallowtail caterpillar. If you followed my butterfly stories last summer, you might remember that I was a bit obsessed with raising butterflies on the back porch. I successfully released 50 butterflies—44 monarchs and 6 eastern black swallowtails.
And, at the end of the season, after the last monarch had headed to Mexico where they hibernate for winter, two spicebush swallowtail chrysalises lagged behind, still in the chrysalis stage.
So here’s my diary of a spicebush swallowtail caterpillar. Two caterpillars, actually.