Tiger Swallowtail

Lately I’ve been wondering why I haven’t seen any Tiger Swallowtails around my yard, though I’d been seeing them flitting around Belfair and Nisqually.

They seem late this year, but yesterday while we were eating dinner I noticed that one had landed on the Crocosmia and seemed to be hanging around instead of just flitting by. I excused myself, to my camera and spent the next ten minutes taking pictures:

Tiger Swallowtail on crocosmia

I’d never seen a Swallowtail so indifferent to movements around him, but I’m certainly not complaining because I love how the red flower contrasts with the yellow and black:

Tiger Swallowtail on crocosmia

4 thoughts on “Tiger Swallowtail”

  1. Wow! This recent series from your yard is wonderful. The Tiger Swallowtail and the Crocosmia — Wow! I love the reddish orange flowers, the magenta and yellow buds along with the green stems, and the black, white, pale yellow, green and touches of blue in the butterfly.

    Looks as if it’s going to be a sunny SUNday up here.

  2. I was lucky enough to grow up in the country, and had an opportunity to study a lot of different insects.

    I remember how surprised I was when I learned that dragonflies are territorial. You tend to think of defined territories as something for more advanced animals, but really it’s pretty common among insect predators.

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