Swallowtail July 29
The sunlight was already strong, and the white of the house was blinding. But I would not pass on the opportunity to try and photograph the large swallowtail that made her entrance around 10am or so.
Initially I stayed at a distance to avoid scaring her off, and hoped that the zoom would give me enough detail.
After a while, I started inching closer, hoping she would not mind.
There are many different types of swallowtail, but based on the information I've found, my model was in all likelihood a male Black Swallowtail, or Papilio Polyxenes. The males have more prominent yellow and orange markings, but less blue compared to the females. I hope he doesn't mind if I misgendered him.
The blue spots are iridescent, but they did not really come through in the photos. I do think, however, that he chose the white background for contrast. I gotta give it to him, it worked quite well.
