It was definitely interesting
with large spots that look like eyes but aren't. I like trying to identify the insects. I use the Golden Guides from St. Martin 's Press.
They contain the most common insects.
Yep, there it was on page 26,
a spicebush swallowtail.
The yellow stripe along the
bottom portion of the body and large spots made it easy to identify.
Normally we just leave the
insects alone. But in this case the
caterpillar was sharing the chair with Whitey the cat. Can you see the caterpillar on the arm of
the chair? This cat looks to be living
the good life. Very relaxed. This cat just eats and eats. And then sleeps some more.
We named the cat Whitey after
Whitey Bulger because the cat was such a tough guy. The cat just wandered into our yard, ate
some of the cat food and decided to stay.
All of the other cats were afraid of him because he didn't back and was
ready to defend himself. Such a tough
guy so the name Whitey Bulger seemed appropriate. It is hard to see but the top of the left
ear has been clipped which means that the cat has been either neutered or
spayed. We can't tell whether it is a
male or a female. We have been noticing
that the male cats don't fight with him (or her). So maybe it is a female. The cat appears to be a stray and not
feral. But we worried about the safety
of the caterpillar and so we put it in a safe place (out of sight). We were afraid that the cat might hurt the
caterpillar and so gently picked the caterpillar up and put it in the grass at
the base of the camphor tree.
But back to the caterpillar,
I have seen these black swallowtails fluttering around our bougainvillea bush. Butterflies are impossible to get a picture
of because they are constantly moving.
The picture below is one from the internet. I
will keep an eye out especially for the spicebush swallowtail butterfly. Maybe I should have been an
entomologist. LOL. Lew
