Mar 29 2010
Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies
A battered Tiger Swallowtail in my butterfly garden
Tiger Swallowtail butterflies are found all across the United States from Canada to Florida and the Carolinas to California.
The yearly cycle of the Tiger Swallowtail is much like that of the other butterflies in the species. It passes the winter as a chrysalis, the butterflies hatching out in the spring just about the time that the lilacs bloom.
Tiger Swallowtail butterflies will fly around for a few weeks and then they will deposit their eggs upon a great variety of trees and shrubs, because the food plants of the swallowtail caterpillars are unusually varied and often include tulip trees, birches, wild cherries, apples, poplars, ash, and several other common trees and shrubs.
These eggs soon hatch into caterpillars that feed upon the leaves of the trees and shrubs. When fully grown, they will change into a chrysalis which hatch out in July and August.
These new Tiger Swallowtail butterflies will in turn lay eggs for the caterpillars which change into a chrysalis in the fall and remain in that condition until the following spring.
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