August 12, 2014

A beat-up old butterfly...

Untitled

... on his her last sips of zinnia-nectar.

ADDED: The correction responds to commenters who tell me the color of this tiger swallowtail means it's a lady.

12 comments:

khesanh0802 said...

Nice shot. Hard to do!

whitney said...

I wish I could attach a photograph. I got a very similar photo today. How do you tell he is old?

Hagar said...

No more American boots on the ground - but they can be bought from China.
Or we can just call them something other than "{boots."

David Wharton said...

Pretty sure that's *her* last sips. Looks like a female Tiger Swallowtail. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papilio_glaucus

Ann Althouse said...

It's so messed up... ragged edges to the wings... one swallowtail missing...

Maybe he/she is young but got into some fights. I don't really know.

Fritz said...

Yep, female black morph Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. The males are never black

I chase butterflies for fun and photos and it's really common to find them with pieces of wing missing.

The black swallowtails (of which we have at least four species in Maryland) are reputed to be mimics of the Pipevine swallowtail, which is poison and tastes bad because of its caterpillars food (Pipevine). We have lots of black Easter Tigers, Spicebush Swallowtails and a few Black Swallowtails, and I saw my first Pipevine Swallowtail last week. They must taste really bad.

Fritz said...

"It's so messed up... ragged edges to the wings... one swallowtail missing...

Maybe he/she is young but got into some fights. I don't really know."

That one's in good shape compared to some I've seen. They do tussle with each other over sex and flowers, and that's probably where the scratches mostly came from. The missing wing parts are probably from a bird.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Yeah but did Einstein expect a different result from doing the same thing regarding sex?

As we change, our "doing the same thing" adjusts the results of what we do even if our actions tried, very very hard, not to age and be identical to what we tried as youth.

This distinction between what is insane and what isn't isn't couth, though I often find that I myself, me, am.

Guildofcannonballs said...

I think what is happening is Einstein is saying "you don't change as you age therefore your actions when young are identical to when old."

This guy was a fool.

Now pay me you idiots, or just thnk of what you next don't know and the effects of me ain't learnin' ya in.

Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...

I suggest this is a Spicebush Swallowtail, probably the female and certainly quite tattered. We have a lot of them around here. Definitely not a Tiger Swallowtail.

Fritz said...

"I suggest this is a Spicebush Swallowtail, probably the female and certainly quite tattered. We have a lot of them around here. Definitely not a Tiger Swallowtail."

I disagree; the remaining tail is too long and narrow, and you can see the residual of the tiger stripes, which are present in back morph tigers, but not Spicebush. But it would be easier if she had taken a shot of the bottom side too.

Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...

Isn't the Althouse blog incredible ... we can discuss the finer points of ConLaw ... or species ID for a fucking butterfly.

I said it probably ten years ago: Althouse is like a ride across Canada on the CN train. Interesting people. Great discussions. And the occasional donnybrook. All that's missing is the shared paper bags concealing assorted adult beverages.