July 30, 2007
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Black Swallowtail
I spotted this Black Swallowtail, Papilio polyxenes, while I was working in the garden this morning. I took my camera out of my pocket and took several shots while he flitted around the zinnias. I really didn't think I had a decent shot of him. I couldn't get close at all, and I don't have a very powerful zoom at all. But when I looked at the images on the computer, I found this one that was still fairly clear when I cropped the image down to this section.
The Black Swallowtail is found throughout much of North America, but it is the state butterfly of Oklahoma. Even though we see quite a few of them, it is always a thrill to see one for me.
Find of the Day: Einstein on Gandhi
Another Find: What does 100 calories look like
Comments (13)
Aww, lovely flora and fauna. :good-job:
Ohhh beautiful flutterby! Bet you're glad you planted those zinnias now.
What a nice contrast! We mostly have Yellow Swallowtail here! There is one that I see almost every day...I think the few attractor plants I have so far are keeping it around!
:wave: What a lovely photo. the butterfly is awesome. Hope ou are having a great week! :applause:
They are pretty, aren't they? Nice shot.
You captured a rare shot of a butterfly - I've tried so many times to take their picture and seldom get a good one - it seems that they hold still right up until the instant I snap the picture and then flit away. I agree with you, though. They are always a thrill to see.
That is an amazing picture!! You are talented!!:sunny:
Hallo! Visiting from another friend's xanga...
Great photo! This butterfly has a special place in my life as it helped me out a lot as a little child. When I was about 8, I went to an outdoor "art camp" in Pennsylvania for a week. While finding wildflowers to inspire us, I found a huge, vile bright green worm in the weeds. It has colourful spots and launched two orange horns out of its head when I touched it. So naurally, I put it into my Smurf thermos and carried it home. Mom found it that afternoon while cleaning out my lunchbox! She wanted to smash it but I told her that it was going to become a beautiful butterfly. She cocked an eyebrow and said it had to stay in the garage. So, I put it into my "bug house" in the garage. Within two days, it had made itself into a chrysalis. There it remained through the winter until one May morning I checked it and found a Black Swallowtail! As we let it go in the backyard, my mom said she'd never doubt my knowledge anymore. Knowing her, it was probably full of biting sarcasm I didn't recognise at the time.. but it gave me a lot of confidence! Thank you, Papilio polyxenes!
Hurrah! Great shot....
I loved looking at the 100 calorie snacks.... it's a website by the National Health Service in the UK so a lot of those snacks reminded me of home.
i saw one of these last time while visiting in Texas. i rarely see any butterlfies in CA. this shot came out nicely :yes:
I plant flat-leafed parsley to attract the black swallowtail. I haven't seen too many around here yet this year. I go out and look for them. My old- very full and enough- for -the-entire- neighborhood parsley plant died when pulled up...accidentally so I planted a new one but I haven't seen the swallowtails yet...
Next time they lay eggs, I wish I could protect the cocoon but something always comes along to eat them...
That's a wonderful photo.
Beautiful! We had a lot in the spring but haven't seen any in a while!
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