Friday, August 24, 2012

MORNING TREAT


This gorgeous creature is a female pipevine swallowtail. The colorful butterfly is nectaring on one of my backyard zinnias—and is, incidentally, the butterfly I was chasing when I stumbled across the reposing queen snake featured in the previous post.

Pipevine swallowtails (Battua philenor), while not exactly uncommon in southwestern Ohio, aren't a species of butterfly I see every day. One reason, of course, is that like many of the various swallowtails, pipevines spend much of their sunny days fluttering and soaring in the upper canopy of the forest—maybe not too high up to notice, but too high for me to identify even through binoculars, and certainly too high for making a meaningful photograph for later scrutiny . 

Too, if you don't pay close attention to the pattern of reddish-orange spots on the ventral hindwing, you can easily mistake them for spicebush swallowtails, black swallowtails, or female dark-phase tiger swallowtails. I'm getting better at butterfly identification, but remembering and sorting out field marks, in situ, still regularly leaves me confused, and is often better accomplished at my desk, where I can look at images and compare against guides. 

Another reason why pipevine swallowtails aren't as widespread in the Buckeye state is because their namesake host plants—various Aristolochias, or pipevines—are themselves represented by only two or three species hereabouts, the most significant so far as the butterfly is concerned being Virginia snakeroot. Female butterflies lay eggs on leaves and stems of pipvines, and the red and black caterpillars feed exclusively on this plant, which contains a substance that renders them poisonous—as both caterpillar and adult butterfly—to predators…similar to the protection the monarch butterfly obtains due to its milkweed diet. Adult pipevine butterflies, however, feed only on nectar.

I must say the top image is one of my favorites of any I've made recently. It was breezy that morning, and the butterfly almost constantly fluttered its wings while feeding on one flower after another. I did make several quite similar shots which caught the pipevine's wings perfectly crisp and static, but it's that bit of blur at the top that makes the image for me. What do you think?  

       

   

8 comments:

The Weaver of Grass said...

I am totally blown away by this Grizz - how wonderful to have this chap landing in your garden.

Scott said...

I noticed (but was not put off by)the blur, which is uncharacteristic of your images, Grizz. Thanks for the explanation.

Gail said...

HI GRIZZ - beautiful picture, you captured nature in a flash :-) ANd I am so impressed by how well you know all the real names of various types of butterflies. I always learn so much form you Professor Nature! Our butterfly bush now over6 feet tall with lovely purple flowers attracts hundred of butterflies - all so lovely, all so soothing and inspiring to watch - a gift from nature right out my window - only a few feet away. Nestled in back of the bush s our humming bird feeder - it is glorious entertainment and comforting beauty to behold. I find solace in their presence. Amen.
Love Gail
peace......

Grizz………… said...

Weaver…

I so delight making and sharing these images and comments. I'm truly glad you enjoyed today's post. As always, thank you.

Grizz………… said...

Scott…

I often find myself stuck in the rut of being dissatisfied if every hair—or in the case of a butterfly, every scale—of my main subject isn't in fine focus. Old habits die hard. But then I manage an image such as this, by accident or less often, as I'm glad to say was true this time, on purpose—and I remind myself I'm not photographing still life…but life! Sometimes blur works better.

Grizz………… said...

Gail…

Hey, don't be fooled by my wide-ranging "expertise." My real skill is that when need be I'm a fairly good researcher. The rest is writer competence. There are rather restricted areas of plants and creatures with which I'm pretty knowledgeable, can recognize what I'm seeing almost instantly and know a lot about the folklore and natural history of it, to boot. But the more I look and photograph and study, the wider my ignorance gap becomes. However, there's plenty out there to learn, and I love learning new things about the world beyond my doorstep.

I have a couple of butterfly bushes around, though they've struggled with the heat and drought. But even sporting sparse blooms the butterflies still find them attractive. And the hummers are as busy as ever. Both are wonderful distractions.

Jayne said...

Just gorgeous! And, as one who also has to always pull out the guide books and such when I am looking at black butterflies, I know how fun it is to get that shot where you actually SEE those field marks! Well done!

Grizz………… said...

Jayne…

Yup, and thank you. But with me, it's not just black butterflies, it's sulphurs, checkerspots, and we'll not even talk about skippers! But if I can manage good enough images, I can usually key them down. It's sure fun, anyway.