Amazing Tiger Swallowtails

I'm sure most of you know that the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail has two forms of females, a dark form which in more common in the southeastern US and the yellow form which is quite more common. A lot of butterfly books don't mention this other form the intermediate form which is like a cross between the dark form and the yellow form. Some years I might see several thousand tiger swallowtails and not see a single intermediate form, other years one or two intermediate forms might show up.

Anyway I wanted to share with you a photo I took at the Little River Regional Park a few miles from here. below is all three forms of Eastern Tiger Swallowtail females in one photo!

Below is an example of the intermediate form female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. All males are yellow BTW.

Below is a normal yellow female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on peach blossoms, it is one of my favorite photos. I have sold a tons of this image on note cards.

Below is the dark form female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on Swamp Milkweed. Notice the tiger striping seen on the sides if the hindwing, this makes it easy to tell from our other dark swallowtails like Spicebush Swallowtail, Black Swallowtail and Pipevine Swallowtail.

Below is a male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, males can be told by the reduced blue cast in the lower portion of the hindwings. This butterfly is on wild plum flowers.

I know many of you might want to raise this butterfly in your garden. Below is a single egg I observed being ova positing on a Tulip Poplar sapling in the yard a few years ago.

Did I mention I'm just getting started here.

Springtime Darner

Soon it will be spring officially, tomorrow in fact. The dragonflies will be flying likely on the next real warm day we have.

Here is one of the larger spring dragonflies the Springtime Darner, Basiaeschna janata. The flight time for this 2 -2 1/2 inch dragonfly is mid March until mid May here in eastern North Carolina. It can be ID ed by the blue spots on the abdomen and that it is the only darner like it that flies in the spring, some of the others are fall fliers.

Look for this one along the edges of open fields and woods. it will usually perch no higher than 2 foot off the ground and hang from twigs like in the above photo. On a cooler day you might be able to get a close inspection of this species and perhaps a photo. Once it gets hotter you can find this darner on wing a lot more and you need a good bit of luck to see it perch at all.

Such a beauty once you get a good look. The blue will start to fade as it ages. If your in the eastern US you might just find this guy in a weed lot or field near you.