Sufficient Indeed

I've been worried that my parsley crop was not lush enough this year to entice a female Eastern Black Swallowtail to lay her eggs here. On Monday I found one small caterpillar in the back garden. Hurrah! I set up a jar with the traditional climbing stick, food, and stocking cover.

I checked again on Tuesday (yesterday) and found another specimen. Next I inspected the parsley by the front door and discovered the four tweensiest caterpillars I've ever seen!

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I took some close-up photos, but the perspective was off--the creatures didn't look all that small. Here's a picture from this morning showing small and weensy (See it on the stem to the left?) caterpillars together.

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The tinies were hard to find (Yesterday when they were on leaves I needed my glasses just to be sure they weren't actually dirt!) partly because they're short, but mostly due to their incredible skinniness, which will not last long. These guys are eating (and waste producing) machines.For detailed stories of our favorite caterpillars, see my previous posts here. (They're in reverse chronological order.)