I spotted this beautiful Black Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio polyxenes) last week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The orange circle with the black dot in between the wings helps to distinguish this species from several similar-looking dark butterflies in our area.
I chased this butterfly around for quite some time before it finally stopped for a moment on this vegetation—I often get a good workout when photographing butterflies. I am quite happy with the way that I was able to capture the varying shades of green surrounding the butterfly that add a lot of visual interest to this simple composition.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
So beautiful and also so admirable to know their names, Thank you, Love, nia
It is so beautiful, in fact it is perfect. Thank you. So satisfying to get good exercise too 🙂
So many gorgeous colors peeking out from its dark wing. Very lovely!