Butterflies! Black Swallowtails raised from caterpillars.

Last summer I was lucky to be given some Black Swallowtail caterpillars by an old friend who finds them growing on her boyfriend's fennel plants each year. She let me borrow an aquarium and they seemed perfectly happy to hang out in there munching away on the fennel, growing bigger and bigger each day. This one has just finished his last meal and has tethered himself to a branch to begin the process of changing into a butterfly.

Here's another caterpillar now in his chrysalis where his entire body will basically melt down into a biological soup and completely rearrange into a whole new insect nothing like his old form. There were several caterpillars and they all spent a few weeks like this, growing and changing from the inside out.

Surprise! I diligently checked each day and finally found brand new butterflies!! These lovely ones are fresh out of the chrysalis, resting and getting ready to fly.

Black Swallowtail butterflies are quite large! This one I managed to coax onto my hand on his first day of life! Hello, sweet beauty, welcome to the world!

Here's the sweet new family of swallowtails finishing their rest and sunning themselves on my surprise lillies before they take flight into their new life. They were all so beautiful and it was amazing to experience this full life transformation!