It is a beautiful day to be in the garden. In spite of the long list of things we wanted to accomplish this morning, pictures of this newly hatched Eastern black swallowtail butterfly had to be taken. The female butterfly had finished pumping up her wings and was warming up on the stone ramp that leads down to the basement of the house. We were on our way to plant the pumpkins and the butternut squash. Ed came out the basement door and called me to get the camera. He took these pictures then carefully stepped around the butterfly. We had seeds to plant so we did not wait for her to fly away this time, but when we returned right before lunch she was gone.
Ed's stone wall provides lots of spots for a butterfly chrysalis to winter over. It is not the first time we have had a chance to take a picture like this. On June 26 of 2010 another new black swallowtail picture was taken. That was ten years ago. It also was a female. I would like to think that the two specimens are related. The family resemblance is definite.We have had a thing for butterflies for a very long time! If you click on the date, the blog will take you back to that ten year old post. Ed wrote it and it is one of my favorites!
This time Ed got a chance to get a great shot of the underside of the butterfly's left wing. Living here where we do we get to observe butterflies closely without interfering their life. What a huge improvement over killing them and sticking them with a pin.
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