This is a female black swallowtail butterfly. The mail is a bit more colorful. Unfortunately, this one was lyng dead on our back sidewalk. We hope that she managed to lay some eggs before she bit the dust. 
With the exception of queens or monarchs, I really no one butterfly i'm another. That's one of my goals – to be able to identify all the creatures that hang out in our yarden.
A few weeks ago, we happened upon a few black swallowtail caterpillars feeding on the parsley.
To my untrained eye, they look like pretty young caterpillars. If you want to attract black swallowtails to your yard, plant dill, fennel, parsley, and carrots. These are "host foods" for black swallowtails - meaning, it is what the caterpillars need to eat when they hatch.
If you are unsure of the identification of a bug, catch one. Put it in a jar so that you can see it top and bottom. Take a picture if that would help. There are some great bug id websites out there. I go to bugguide.net You can search for yourself or you can submit photos for experts to reply with an id. I don't know how I found info pre-internet!
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