Tiger Swallowtail on Tiger Lily
As I left for work this morning I saw this tiger swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus) on a tiger lily (Lilium lancifolium). I didn’t think I could let that opportunity pass without at least trying to get a picture. I took quite a few, starting relatively far away and working in a bit closer as she didn’t fly off. I am pretty happy with a good number of the images.
She kept circling the flower and would occasionally open her wings, but most of the good pictures show her in profile, like this. I did get a couple that are mostly of the butterfly and don’t show the entire flower, but I thought I’d use this one here. A few were closer still and in them you can see the individual scales on the butterfly’s wing.
It’s turned quite hot the last day or three and I was glad to get my photo-taking out of the way in the morning. That way I didn’t have to do it later in the day or even when I got home. My car said it was 101°F at 5:30 PM.