As I was out searching for dragonflies in the heat of the midday sun, a butterfly came fluttering into view. I haven’t seen many large butterflies yet this spring, so I followed after it, trying to identify it. When the butterfly paused for a moment to feed on one plant, I scrambled to get a shot.
The light was harsh and coming from a bad direction, but my long telephoto showed me clearly that it was a swallowtail butterfly, but definitely not at all colored like the Eastern Tiger Swallowtails that I often see during the summer. The markings were distinctive enough that it was easy to determine later that it is a Zebra Swallowtail butterfly (Eurytides marcellus), a species that I had never before encountered.
Multiple sources indicate that the Zebra Swallowtail is closely associated with the pawpaw tree, though I don’t know enough about trees and blossoms to determine if that is the plant on which this butterfly was feeding.
As I was poking about on the internet, I also learned from ereferencedesk.com that in 1995 the Zebra Swallowtail was designated as the official state butterfly of Tennessee. I must confess that I didn’t know that states have official butterflies.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Nice work. You can see shadows through the wings!
I’ve never seen one of these — what a treat, Mike. It’s always rewarding to add a new species to your collection, and this is a wonderful shot to boot. Interesting to see that they have just a hint of red on their otherwise black and white wings.
Pretty cool, Mike. Seems the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail you mentioned is Virginia’s State Butterfly. A great butterfly site is BAMONA (http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org) that shows 106 species for Fairfax County including quite a few I’ve yet to see.
Yikes. I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled for a lot more different butterflies. I haven’t seen too many yet this year.
I was heartened to see there are so many species, but when I checked out the list it looks like almost half of them are skippers–I am doomed. I am definitely challenged when it comes to identifying the different skippers.
Outstanding shot of a beautiful butterfly, Mike! I have never seen one, but I do have a pawpaw tree (small – more like a bush), so I’ll have to keep my eyes open. I will have do so some research to see if they come this far north.
I’ve never seen this one either. It sounds like it’s more of a southern butterfly, so it probably wouldn’t visit NH. It’s a real beauty!
One of the coolest things for me about doing a blog is being able to share what I see with others in different places, who may come in contact with entirely different plants and creatures. New Hampshire is not that far from Virginia, but I suspect there are quite a few insects and birds that I get to see that you don’t (and vice versa).