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Here and There…Now and Then |
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
This is a male eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus). These and more of the silver-spotted skippers (see photo in yesterday’s Extra gallery) were out in force today feeding on the teasel (Dipsacus sp.) flowers in the lot next to my office.
Papilio glaucus (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail)
I stopped at Lake Needwood on the way home today. It was a beautiful afternoon, although a bit warm for my taste. I walked around to a point point eastern shore near where there is an old beaver dam. There is no evidence that there are any beavers around any more, although the dam is in reasonable shape, considering. It’s been there since before the aerial photos used in Google’s map were taken. I got some nice photos of this eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus). I tried to get pictures of the swallows flying over the water but they were moving too fast and I really wasn’t set up for that sort of photography. I got some pictures of dragonflies, as well, and one that was good enough to use to identify a female common yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas).
Papilio glaucus (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail)
This is a dark-morph (and thus a female) eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) on the buddleia outside our kitchen door. The tiger swallowtails are the most numerous, large butterflies in our garden, followed by monarchs (Danaus plexippus). Otherwise, we only have occasional visitors. There are a lot of smaller butterflies and skippers, particularly small skippers. But the large, gaudy swallowtails are fun to watch and among my favorites.
Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) on Asiatic Lily
We had our first sighting of a tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) today and it was nice enough to perch on the Asiatic lilies growing in our front garden. I’ve actually seen a few butterflies around but haven’t had a chance to get any photos. Soon we’ll have them in abundance, especially when the Buddleia starts to bloom. These Asiatic lilies are surrounded by tiger lily plants (Lilium lancifolium), which are considerably taller and I’m not sure these can get the attention they deserve. On the other hand, this makes them harder for the deer to get to, which is a plus.
Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)
We have a lot of tiger swallowtails (Papilio glaucus) in our yard. The particularly like the butterfly bush (Buddleia) but we see them on other flowers, as well. They are often quite ragged, with torn wings and sometimes with less than half remaining. Nevertheless, they seem to get around alright. Most of them are the standard yellow striped with black but we have a significant number of the dark form, which is restricted to females of the species. This is a pretty nice one, with her wings mostly intact. As you can see, she is on a tall verbena (Verbena bonariensis).
Tiger Swallowtail on Milkweed
I stopped at the Croyden Creak Nature Center again this afternoon. I took a picture of Joe Pye weed here two weeks ago (see Wednesday, June 16, 2021) and wanted to see if it had started to bloom. It really hadn’t but it’s getting close. I walked around and took a few pictures, anyway, including a few of this eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus) enjoying the swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata). There was also a nice buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) in bloom. It has spherical clusters of tiny flowers that like little pincushions.
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)
Cathy and I went to the Montgomery County Agricultural History Farm Park this afternoon and enjoyed the butterflies on the flowers. After being really overgrown during ‘the summer of covid’ it’s back in good shape this year and really lovely now. There were lots of skippers and I saw what I suspect was a fritillary but I really didn’t get a good enough look at it. It was the right color and size, though. There were both ‘standard’ and the dark-morph females. There was also a monarch flitting around but never let me get very close. The sulphurs and whites were likewise fairly skittish. So, I was pleased to get this one.