What is it about the swallowtail butterflies that make your jaw drop just a little? The tails, the large wings? The graceful flight? Always, always grab my attention. The pipevine swallowtail.
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Category Archives: pipevine swallowtail butterfly
The pipevine swallowtail
The pipevine swallowtail is such an eye catching butterfly. Like many of the swallowtails you have to be extremely patient with a trigger happy finger to capture their beauty. I was fortunate enough to watch a male and female do their mating dance before eventually attaching to one another during a visit at The Butterfly Estates. The males have the irresistible blue coloring on the surface of their wings, while the female is mostly black with white along the outer edge of their wing. Their host plant is the birthwort.
A new adventure awaits
I am beyond thrilled to begin raising the pipevine swallowtail from egg. I planted the birthwort, its host plant, in my garden almost two years ago and have never been able to attract this butterfly. It came to my attention earlier this week that the Butterfly Estates has an abundance of eggs after a conversation with the curator for an article I am writing. So, this morning, I made my way to Downtown Fort Myers. There were so many pipevine swallowtails flying around the 3,600 square foot glass butterfly conservatory. I even had the opportunity to take home the eggs that I witnessed the female pipevine swallowtail laying.
I cannot wait to learn more about this species whose wingspan range from 2 3/4 to 5 inches, as I watch them grow from egg to butterfly. I have both the male (blue hindwings) and female (black wings with spots) photographed below.
