LET'S NECTAR OUT! (06/04)
The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus) is the State Butterfly of Virginia. From spring through fall you can view these beautiful specimens as they go from flower to flower to gather nectar. They are fun to watch and even more fun to photograph.
I've learned that you can get close to these creatures, but you have to become part of their world for them to let you do so. But I will say that a super telephoto lens makes things much easier. I have hundreds of butterfly photographs. Some of the specimens I photographed looked like they were out partying the night before. They were in pretty bad shape. But out of hundreds of photographs, you get one like this.
Finally, a bit of trivia, a new species of butterfly is purported to have been located in the Appalachian Mountains which is called "Papilio appalachiensis". How cool is that! Its markings are very similar to the of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. And that concludes today's lesson in Lepidoptera.
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Best,
Paul P.
