Is there anything better in this whole wide world than a three-year-old who loves bugs? As soon as Ollie spotted this caterpillar, he said, “Nana! We have to go inside and look this up on the INTERNET!” So, we scrolled through photos on Giff Beaton’s ID page until we found this and identified the caterpillar as a black swallowtail… or, to the cool kids, a Papilio polyxenes. (I think, we found 4 caterpillars, this one was a little different than the one we positively ID’d…)
About three years ago, I ceased using harmful chemicals in my yard. Still use diatomacious earth, the occasional grass-area-only spray for fleas and ticks (this still is the rural south, I have to be real… with three dogs). Now I get multitudes of butterflies. The spiders are phenomenal. And the robins and vireos, cardinal buddies, and catbirds… love to feast on the grubs and seeds, the elderberries, blueberries, and concord grapes.
Nice.