Once in a while, a butterfly comes along that takes my breath and makes my heart skip a beat. And here's the one that did that today, nectaring so avidly on my Purple Horsemint that it didn't seem to mind when I got close! It may be slightly battered, but still...WOW!
What a beauty Linda!
Nice one, Linda! I can't be sure, but it looks like a Black Swallowtail. (Female possibly.) I hope so...... maybe you'll be seeing little baby cats on your BST host plants! :-)
Actually, Becky, I was thinking it might be a female black TST...although I'll admit I rarely see any, so I'm not that good at recognizing them. Here's another view of it...doesn't it look like a black TST? Or I may be wrong. But as far as more BST babies...I've got SO MANY already! So I was hoping to get to check my black cherry trees just in case I might get to raise my first regular TST cats.
Looks like an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail...a dark female. Congrats!!! She's a beauty!!! Hope she lays eggs on your cherry trees!!!
~ Cat
Oh now that rocks!!! Congrats, Linda! How big is your cherry tree? Very exciting!!!
Well, that's part of the problem, Becky. There's a bunch of them on the property. Takes time to check them all. But I'm glad I have them.
Linda - Oh my! Then you should get LOTs of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies in your yard.
How big do the Cherry trees get?
You would think that, wouldn't you? Actually, I see very few of them and as far as I know, they are just passing through. I've never seen the cats...so far, I've only seen two-tailed tigers (and they mainly prefer the hop trees) and RSPs on them. The local variety (var. eximia) of black cherry, the Escarpment Black Cherry, could get to 45 feet in favorable habitats, but I probably don't have any over 20 feet. Even so, I can't check the upper parts of the taller ones. Only the very tallest trees bloom...nice blooms, too bad it's only in springtime.
Lovely Cherry tree, Linda! Love the foliage and the blooms on it! I am very surprised you don't see more butterflies in that tree! Hmmmmm ......
