Sounds like they are not shooting anything at all!

Sometimes they are just "tasting" a leaf, and sometimes they change their mind, too. Sometimes another critter, like an ant, is following the egg-laying and eats the egg.

I have so many other insects and predators this year, I assume due to our very long, warm spring, that I'm finding few eggs though I've seen the mamas ovipositing.

Susan

I have wild asparagus that has gone to seed not far from my bronze fennel so I checked it today when I was looking for eggs and guess what - I found an egg on my asparagus that looks the same as a Black Swallowtail egg. I put the asparagus with the egg in a container with some bronze fennel so it can switch over. It would've been a long journey to look for something to eat for such a tiny cat even though the plants are only about a foot apart.
I wouldn't have checked it if I hadn't read this thread.

So I guess they do sometimes make mistakes unless it turns out to be a stinkbug or something. I'll let you know.

You're right Susan, I guess "shooting blanks" would be the wrong term, perhaps "misfiring" would be more appropriate :) It just seemed strange that I saw the butterfly curve its abdomen and carefully touch it to the leaf and hold it for a second, just like when they lay eggs. It did this at least 10 times while I was watching and nothing ever came out.

I guess them laying eggs on asparagus is unusual but not unheard of. I only found it listed on two websites as a host plant, but one also stated it was in the carrot family. From what I read it is actually in the lily family...unless there is something else known as asparagus in the carrot family. It will be interesting the see if Christie's cats actually eat the asparagus they were found on or not. My asparagus was not in the same bed as any host plants or touching them in any way, but not too far from them.

The monarchs have been strange too as far as the "misfiring" goes. The one had many misfires, but then did actually successfully lay a few eggs. Strange thing was it shoved several bees, wasps, and Japanese beetles out of the way to lay the eggs in the flower heads of common milkweed. The flower heads were also covered with ants. I snatched the eggs up right away before the ants got them. Why she chose to lay there instead of on the many stalks that had young fresh leaves and no predators on them is beyond me :) I raised them and just released them today. Their momma must be doing something right though because they were very big and beautiful!

The egg that I found on my asparagus hatched yesterday. This morning, the little cat is on the bronze fennel that I put next to it in the same container. It doesn't look like it ate any of the asparagus foliage. I'll keep both plants in the container though and see what gets eaten.

That's funny, I watched a Black Swallowtail female hovering over the Amsonia hubrichtii for an unusually long time, as if she were looking to oviposit, right after she actually did lay eggs on some rue and parsley (found 4 eggs).

This Amsonia has ferny foliage as well, perhaps they are initially attracted to a certain foliage type?