Caterpillars dive in Bidwell Park Auf-Chico Enterprise record

Chico – It is the Swallowtail season pipevine, which means that black and orange caterpillars bang around the entire Bidwell Park.

Shane Romain, Manager of Chico Park and natural resources, advise to keep an eye out and not to step on the little creatures. He said many will be traveling in the next few weeks.

“Slow and play a game about how many you can see. Use a sheet to let you go and move it out of the way,” said Romain. “Everyone who is squeezed is one butterfly less who has the important task of pollination.”

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A Swallowtail pipevine hangs on Monday, May 19, 2025, in the Lower Bidwell Park in Chico, California, on the stem of a plant. (Molly Myers/Enterprise record)

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The coordinator for the educational coordinator of Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve Outdoor formation repeated Romain's feeling for the importance of the Swallowtail Pipevine. These are the most common butterflies in our region, he said, so they make most of the local pollination.

While it is “a good deed” to move them off the street, these caterpillars are poisonous because they eat the California pipevine plant and absorb their toxins. While it's okay to touch them, they definitely don't eat them, he said. Since the pipevine system is the innkeeper of the insect, they are found wherever this system is located.

The reason for this time of year is your season because you lay your eggs on fresh pipevine growth, AULL said. As soon as summer progresses and the Pipevine plant begins to dry, the caterpillars will stop their eggs to lay their eggs.

“The exception is when there is a fire,” added AULL. “As one of our many fireplace -adapted plants, the pipevine reserves the fresh growth after burning and the butterflies, so that they are re -populated.”

While the Swallowtail pipevine is common in Butte County, the population groups in Sacramento and Bay Area drop. So they should not be taken for granted. In order to maintain all butterfly population, he said that it should not use pesticides in gardens because he claims that these chemicals influence the decline of butterflies across the country.

“So we are lucky enough to have you here in this area, proof of our remaining riverside life that was lost or degraded in other areas,” said AULL. “And you can offer habitat in your own garden by planting pipevine and other local nectar plants.”

In the course of the summer, AULL and ROMAIN encourage the residents to draw these seasonal visitors' attention and appreciate their role in the environment.

“The Swallowtail caterpillars and butterflies pipevine are fascinating creatures that can easily be observed in a non -harmful way,” said Romain. “You are an indicator of the beginning of summer and earn a warm welcome from park visitors.”

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