Well, I had an exciting day at the museum - we had a Giant Swallowtail emerge! We only had one Giant ST chrysalis that over-wintered with us and I got to release it today. Oddly enough, my dad spotted a Giant ST the other day in our yard. I guess the butterflies are starting to emerge although this is on the early side for them. Our last frost date was yesterday and we had a pretty mild winter compared to last year so I guess it's not out of the question to see swallowtails this early. Last year it seemed like they took forever to come out.
Here's the Giant ST in question:
The Zebra Longwings were roosting together. They don't all do this, but a number of them do and I just think it's such a cool phenomenon. They like to hang out in this little camphor tree we have growing in the flight cage. Camphor is a host plant for the Spicebush Swallowtail but it's a non-native which is sometimes considered invasive so I don't recommend growing it. Choose the native Spicebush, Red Bay or Sassafras instead!
Here's a close-up I took of a Zebra Longwing.
We still have lots of Monarchs. Not so many caterpillars anymore but I expect that will improve with the warmer weather.
And I released a Gulf Fritillary, too.
