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Health & Fitness

A Patio Thrill

A Patio Thrill

        I gasped at what I saw on my patio recently – two lovely swallowtail butterflies.  “Oh my god,” I blurted to my visitor.  Then I clasped one hand over my mouth, afraid I’d scare the beauties away, and pointed with the other hand.

        I’d been hoping for years to see butterflies out there, planted special plants for them, provided watering spots and otherwise tried to make them feel welcome, all with no results.  Now here they were – two of the biggest and most striking butterflies in the Bay Area on my patio, only a few feet from me.

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        Swallowtails got their name because of their long wingtips, so like a barn swallow.  Once commonly seen in neighborhood yards and open fields from the Rocky Mountains to coastal California, we see them less and less as their habitat diminishes.

        Occasionally they can be spotted now along a country roadside where wild fennel or anise grows, but with weed abatement programs in force, those sightings are less common, too.  However, now that backyard gardens are becoming more popular and people are planting parsley and dill, will we see a comeback of this beautiful creature?

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        The life of an Anise Swallowtail is fleeting but dramatic as the egg develops in a larva that shrouds itself in a cocoon, then a caterpillar and finally emerges as the full blown and beautiful familiar creature.  In only a few weeks, those lovelies, like the one I saw on my patio, have laid their eggs and gone to the great anise patch in the sky.  I feel quite privileged to have been, in my small way, a part of this eternal and wonderful process.

 

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