Male and Female Black Swallowtails

Lol i envy you. Do you breed anything else and are they a local species

Yes, they're all local. I collect the eggs or small larvae off of the plants in my garden and move them to the safety of the 'cathouse' until they're ready to pupate and then eclose and fly free. I'll rear any kind that I find in the yard. Right now I have Monarchs and Promethea moths going in the 'cathouses'. I've also reared Question Marks, Eastern Commas, Red Admirals, American Painted Ladies, Cabbage Whites, Royal Walnut Moths, Luna Moths, Cecropia moths, Giant Leopard Moths, White Flannel moths, and several different kinds of slug caterpillars (moths). My yard supports many other kinds of butterflies and moths that I don't collect.

Now i envy you more lol, hardly any butterflies here this year just a few cabbage whites, small tortoiseshell, Peacock, comma, holly blue, painted lady and a few more that i can't name or spell lol. Sleep for me now. Night

Yes, some of them do have very short lives but others can live much longer. For example the late Monarchs fly thousands of miles to winter in Mexico living about 6 months or longer. Other butterflies winter over, hiding under the bark of trees and then fly on warm days in late winter and early spring.

They will all sit on your hand if you handle them while they're still drying their wings and can't quite fly yet. It's one of the big thrills you get for rearing them, and is the funnest part.

The easiest way to tell apart the sexes is by color difference but some species both male and female are the same color so it's impossible to tell unless you disect them (no thankyou). The female may be larger than the male.......that's usually true for moths anyway. Another way you might tell is if you just sit and watch them. The males usually always flutter after/behind a female.

Best of luck getting a pic of the black and blue Ulysses. I'd love to see a pic of one. I wouldn't doubt that they're attracted to bright colors.

These look great ! I only get the yellow swallowtail, would love to see these in the yard, I'd probably faint .., but you know as soon as I came around, and dusted myself off, I'd be running for the camera..lol.

LOL>>>>>>I have a feeling you wouldn't wait to dust yourself off ! That camera would be poking out of a dustbowl to get that shot !

Lol... You know me pretty well already don't you...lol.