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Swallow Tail
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
This swallow tail I found near my house in a field.
The camera was hend held in Super Macro mode.
The Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucas) is a strong flier with distinctive yellow and black striped markings on its wings and body (some females are brown or black, mimicking the poisonous pipevine swallowtail). This relatively common butterfly has a wingspan of 3.5-6.5 inches (9-16.5 cm). Southern subspecies are larger than the northern ones.
These butterflies are called swallowtails because they have long "tails" on their hindwings which look a bit like the long, pointed tails of swallows (a type of bird).
Egg: A butterfly starts its life as an egg. The female Tiger Swallowtail butterfly lays its spherical, yellow-green eggs on the leaf high in a tulip tree, sweet bay, wild black cherry, ash, lilac, aspen, birch, or choke cherry. When the egg hatches, its meals (the leaves of one of these plant) are easily available.
Caterpillar: The larva (caterpillar) hatches from an egg and eats the egg shell. Then it eats leaves (almost constantly). The newly-hatched larva is brown and white, and looks like bird droppings, but it turns green later. The caterpillar molts (loses its old skin) many times as it grows. The caterpillar is plump, smooth, and green with large yellow eyespots" that have black "pupils." There is a yellow and black stripe where its "neck" should be. The larva lives in a nest that it makes high in the trees by folding a leaf over and securing it with silk. It grows to be up to about 2 inches (5 cm) long. Just before pupating, it sometimes turns brown.
Pupa: It turns into a pupa (chrysalis); this is a resting stage. As the body transforms into a butterfly, it neither eats nor drinks.
Adult: A beautiful, flying adult emerges. There is no growth during this stage, but the butterfly will sip nectar. This adult will continue the cycle by reproducing. Females produce two broods in the north, three in the south.
Wings have distinctive yellow and black stripes. Some females (especially in the south) are much darker, mimicking the poisonous Pipevine butterfly.
DIET:
Caterpillar: The caterpillar's first meal is its own eggshell. After that, the caterpillars eat the tulip tree (Liriodendron), sweet bay, wild black cherry (Prunus), ash (Fraxinus), wild poplar (Populus), Basswood (Tilia), birch (Betula), lilac, aspens, or choke cherry.
Butterfly: Butterflies can only sip liquid food using a tube-like proboscis, which is a long, flexible "tongue." This proboscis uncoils to sip food, and coils up again into a spiral when not in use.
Tiger Swallowtails drink sweet flower nectar, especially nectar from the pink flowers of the shrub abelia. |
phlr, fiyo, marhowie, wishnugaruda, coasties, Phoki, wallhalla15 has marked this note useful
Only registered TrekNature members may rate photo notes. |
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- fiyo
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 957 W: 5 N: 2365]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-n-g.gif)
(8836) - [2005-10-15 17:24]
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Hello Ido,
Excellent macro,
Very good lighting, sharp and detailed image, very nice colours. Well done&TFS
Very nice handheld shot Ido. Great colors and light. Thank You.
- Merlin
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 381 W: 223 N: 306]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-g-g.gif)
(958) - [2005-10-15 20:36]
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Ido:
Beautiful butterfly, but you've "lost" the foreground wing a bit and it gives a rather strange perspective. The butterfly in this shot is the Swallowtail, Papilio machaon, rather than the Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio glaucas.
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- chiliu
(6448)
- [2005-10-16 3:28]
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Hi Ido,
Very nice macro!
Excellent sharpness and clarity,
great colour.
Well done and thanks for sharing!
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- phlr
(2804)
- [2005-10-16 4:32]
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Such a beauty!
Wonderful yellow color of this Papilionidae!
Also a complete notes too!
Very good photo!
Great details!
5*!
Hi Ido,
congratulation, I's so amazing to find this wonderful butterfly. You captured it very well and I like it. I also had the great luck to find one this year and I were so happy.
Thank you very much for sharing, bye
Sabine - wishnugaruda
Hello Ido
You have done a great job here. Good depth of colour. Well done. Thanks.
The fact that the tip of the left wing is out of focus bothers me. I would also have liked to see a closer crop on the right hand side of the butterfly. Otherwise a great shot. Nice colors.
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- Phoki
![Silver Star Critiquer/Silver Note Writer [C: 48 W: 0 N: 21]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/s-n-s.gif)
(284) - [2005-10-16 10:47]
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Nice shot a you are probably a writer to?:-))
Hi Ido, thatīs a very fine macro shot. Excellent detail and good tones of colour. A great capture, very well done.
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- KellEy
![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 188 W: 18 N: 85]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-s-g.gif)
(700) - [2006-02-09 21:19]
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Whoa, nice clarity and composition.
I love the colours here a lot too.
Great background, well seen!
