Releasing the Black Swallowtail Butterfly
Leaving work Monday, driving away I noticed a bump on the brick wall. Wasn’t sure what it was, and didn’t stop to find out.
Tuesday morning, the bump was still there, with a Black Swallowtail Butterfly next to it. The “bump” was its chrysalis, which was brown in color and blended in relatively well with the grout. I never saw the caterpillar crawling on the wall at all, so he must have snuck in there during working hours.
At any rate, I captured the butterfly in a jar, which wasn’t difficult. Being recently “hatched,” he (or she) wasn’t very active just yet. Not wanting to damage its wings, I took a box, cut off one and a half sides and taped a screen to it. I released the butterfly in there so it would have some room. I kept it mostly in the dark to keep it from being too active and flying around.
Last night, I took pictures, one of which (probably the best of the bunch) was posted this morning: “Black Swallowtail Butterfly.” I didn’t really want to release it at night, plus I wanted to get photos of the outside of the wings, so I waited until this morning.
I released it at home, figuring that was a better spot for it than the industrial park where I work. Where he (or she) found food as a caterpillar, I have no idea. Not any parsley that I know of growing around here! Maybe there are some wild members of the carrot family in the weeds that grow by the parking lot.
I tried to release him (or her) on a post on the front porch, but he flew down to the ground, where I took some more photos. I then tried to place him on a plant, but he flew up. I tried to get a photo of him in flight, but he flew up into the tree and I lost sight of him.
It’s beautiful, it must be flying everywhere now exploring the beauty of flowers
Beautiful shot.