.JPG)
This is a zebra swallowtail I had rescued from the screened-in porch at the historic house:
Zebra swallowtails seemed more common early in the summer, but they still occasionally flutter up to me while I'm outside. They seem bad at boundaries.
We spied our first "Red-spotted purple" the other day. They're unique ones, with this really pretty indigo flash as they fly that makes you unsure if the what you just saw was black or blue. They lay their eggs on black cherry trees and like fruit juices instead of nectar. They're also known for their frenetic movements, so my clip of it is really poor quality because it didn't like to hold still to begin with, then if you got close it really started moving!
What's really fun about the red-spotted purples, though, is that they're the exact same species as the "white admirals." They do not look alike, but they are literally the same butterflies. Here's someone else's picture of a white admiral:
Right now, there's lots of tiger and eastern swallowtails. Tigers are big butterflies, and very stately. They prefer to hang out about 10-15 feet above the ground and avoid it all, then come down to the plants they like. We took pictures of a few (again from a slight distance) the other day, and you can even tell which are male and which are female based on whether or not they have blue spots near their tails.
 |
| A female tiger swallowtail |
 |
| Two male tiger swallowtails |
Eastern black swallowtails are a little smaller, almost all black, but have some of the tiger-striping along the backs of their wings. They're either not as common, not as obvious, or are confused with some of the others, because I haven't seen as many of those. Sweetbush swallowtails are more common. I haven't taken pictures of any Maryland ones but there were a few in the butterfly house at the museum in New York:
I've also seen mourning cloak butterflies, which are some of the first ones to appear because they can feed on sap from trees. They're lookers, too. Smaller painted ladies, question mark butterflies, etc, are all common as well!
Who's the best?
