Suburban Wildlife

This afternoon when I went to gather some basil for homemade pesto, I came across five caterpillars hanging out on my parsley.  I wasn't sure exactly what they were.  They looked an awful lot like monarch caterpillars, but they're eating up my parsley - there's no milkweed in sight.  A little online research (I love the internet for things like this!) told me that these are third generation black swallowtail caterpillars.

As long as these little buggers leave some parsley for me to use at my table, I'm happy to share with them.  I hope we get to watch them turn into butterflies!