May 4: Three of our butterflies eclosed over the weekend! Two were male and one was a female. After their wings were dry enough to fly, we opened up the mesh enclosure and let them go. We saw them during the afternoon off and on as they landed in our flowering tree to eat.

One of them even landed on my arm. I think it was saying, "hello!"

The top one is a male. You can tell because the boys wear a "yellow shirt."

The bottom one is a female. You can tell because the girls wear a "blue skirt."

April 26: Ms. Calentine was sitting on her porch and spotted this beautiful butterfly that had just eclosed. But it wasn't an eastern black swallowtail, it was an eastern tiger swallowtail!

She was very surprised! After a few minutes its wings were dry and it flew away.

Tiger swallowtails have more yellow on their wings whereas black swallowtails have more black.

This one is a female. You can tell because the girls "wear a blue skirt." Do you see the blue along the edges at the bottom of its wings near its tails?

Here is more information about the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus).

April 23: Ms. Calentine checked in on the chrysalides today and counted 35 (!) chrysalides. As the weather warms up, hopefully some of these will eclose and emerge as beautiful eastern black swallowtail butterflies.