Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies (Papilio glaucus) were really busy on the buttonbushes (Cephalanthus occidentalis) at Huntley Meadows Park recently, including what looks to be a dark morph female. Females of this species are dimorphic—there are both yellow morphs and dark morphs—but males are only yellow.
If you look closely at the second image you’ll see that I managed to capture a “bonus bug.” a bee that is also feeding on the buttonbush. My photography mentor likes to use the term “bonus bug” to refer to insects in our photos whose presence was unknown at the time the photos were taken.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
I think the swallow tails are my favourite butterflies.
Lovely butterflies Mike and it looks like you got a bonus bug on both shots! 🙂
What sharp eyes you have. I totally missed the bee in the first image.
Not bad for an old fart with specs! 🙂
Nice image!
Thanks, Nat.
You’re welcome Mike!
Love the bonus bug – I will keep a look out now whenever I am admiring butterflies for these little photo bombers.
It’s actually pretty amazing how often it happens that we are focused on a primary subject that we don’t even see what is in the rest of the frame when we are taking a shot.
I looked up the dark morph and discovered that both the “normal” and the dark form can be present in the same individual! I was going to send the URL, but it’s ridiculously long. Just Google “tiger swallowtail dark morph” and then click on the images link; you’ll see it right away. Amazing! The dark form also bears a definite resemblance to the black swallowtail
Thanks for sharing the info, Gary. I get confused with dark swallowtails, because there are at least four different varieties. This blog posting explains how to tell them apart. http://louisiananaturalist.blogspot.com/2009/06/four-dark-swallowtails.html
Thanks back, Mike. Great article and explanation. I’ll be sure to remember the pupil in the iris!
Two beauties on one plant! How lucky you are, and thank you for sharing your pics.
Thanks. As is the case with most wildlife shots, luck played a huge role. I was thrilled that I was able to capture some of the beauty that I was experiencing.
Yes – lovely indeed Mike.
Fantastic getting both of the color morphs in the same shots!
Thanks, Sue. I took a series of shots in burst mode as the butterflies moved around and was psyched when I realized that I had captured them both in a single image–a lot of luck there.
Those are beautiful shots Mike, and I’m happy that you knew that the plant was a button bush!