
I saw a beautiful swallowtail on our golden currant bush and couldn't resist snapping a few photos.

They came out well enough that I realized I would be able to identify the butterfly. A couple years ago I wanted to learn all the butterflies in the area, but once I learned there were more than a hundred species, I felt a bit overwhelmed and didn't learn much. Now I'm ready to try again.

When I came in the house, I went on the internet to
my favorite butterflies website. One of the neatest things about the website is that it has a list of butterflies and moths by county, so that quickly narrows down what you see. I found that there were about six different swallowtails, and by checking out the photos, I learned that this one is a Two-tailed Swallowtail (
Papilio multicaudata). In the photo above you can clearly see the secondary protrusion on the tail, along with the pretty blue and orange coloring near the tail.

The two-tailed swallowtail uses nectar from a variety of plants and is fairly common in western North America. I really enjoyed watching it get that nectar--the butterfly balanced delicately as it sipped the nectar, then swooped to the next flower.
One down, quite a few more to go...
2 comments:
Beautiful! Did I see Desert Boy's photo on the NPS website about the Jr Ranger program? If not, man that kid looks like his twin.
I wasn't aware of Desert Boy's photo being on the NPS website, but I guess it's possible. We are enjoying some good weather and being outside a lot.
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