Eastern Black Swallowtail Surprise Emergence Within A Community Of Monarchs

This is where I left off in my last post . . . the beautiful green and yellow chrysalis of the Eastern Black Swallowtail hanging by a fine silk thread within a Monarch caterpillar and chrysalis community.

Numerous Monarch jade-green chrysalises, formed and forming, are suspended . . . anchored by tiny black ‘cremasters’ into carefully spun silk buttons . . .  all around the single Swallowtail chrysalis. It is fascinating to observe the differences in the mechanics of their pupa stages. Here we can see the tiny templates of the Monarch Butterfly wings, antennae, legs and proboscis all neatly assembled and hidden within the soft green. A Monarch butterfly is ‘becoming’ while hanging upside down, whereas the Eastern Black Swallowtail hangs like a stunning pendant with it’s head facing upwards.

When the Monarch butterfly chrysalis is completely formed and the clear casing hardens, it is harder to see the individual parts.

Up to two weeks may go by before we see the butterfly inside the clear chrysalis casing. Perhaps due to the warmer weather these butterflies appear sooner.

With the sun shining through the earlier stages of the Monarch pupa, one may assume all is a pale, milkweed-green liquid bedecked with golden drops and a necklace.

Alchemical or magical . . . seeing a butterfly’s colorful wings appearing always startles one into a realm of wonder and awe at the intriguing gift of life.

Amid all of this exhilarating animation our patient Eastern Black Swallowtail dreams of becoming a butterfly.

Everything I read about this little fellow, whose form is rather comical, as well as, exquisite led me to believe it would be dreaming all winter. Discovering the Swallowtail female laying the egg on the seventeenth of July . . .  I did not know this was enough time for another generation to grow into butterflies and lay their own eggs. Finding mid August eggs will assure me of a winter studio mate. The chrysalis above greeted me early on the morning of August the tenth. I was releasing Monarch butterflies, whose eggs had been found the same day of the Eastern Black Swallowtail egg, on the very afternoon of this Swallowtail’s metamorphosis. Some of us are just slower to become our true selves. Each in their own unique way and time as the saying goes.

I was very surprised to see this tapestry of color on the morning of August 23rd.

Not understanding the signs that tell me when a Eastern Black Swallowtail butterfly is about to emerge, as I do with the Monarchs, I missed the actual emergence of this creature. This photo confuses one as to which chrysalis the Swallowtail entered the world from.

Now we can see his casing still connected to the sedum stem by a fastidiously fastened silk thread.

A perfect male Eastern Black Swallowtail! I am mystified by the creamy yellow drops of liquid near the head of the butterfly. Perhaps something left over from being a caterpillar that needed to be emitted through the proboscis. Monarch butterflies ‘first release’ is a dark brown liquid from their abdomen, though not of such a thick opaque texture, then soon after a few clear drops.

I will share more about my experiences raising Monarch butterflies . . . but for now . . . the star of this post is the Eastern Black Swallowtail. This was my first time being able to observe its life cycle and I must say it is pure joy to see and document the many changes throughout its life within a busy community of Monarch caterpillars and chrysalises and all of their magical metamorphoses.  Seeing the first flight of the Swallowtail, as with the Monarch butterflies, gives ones heart a flutter and sparkles the imagination.

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