Hip Hip Hoorah! Harry is Here!

      Black Swallowtails are clearly morning butterflies! The mothers lay eggs in darkness, and apparently the offspring are early risers too.  At 7:15 this morning, we wandered out with our coffee to check all was well, and there was Harry, already out, his wings inflated, resting and drying out in the dawn of a new day.  A gorgeous male, he hung for a couple hours fully drying his wings, before taking his first flight straight out of the garden. Moving on is hard-wired into them, it seems. Tom, who transformed into a chrysalis a day later, remained inside his yellow and green enclosure. Still no sign of the wayward brother, Dick.

Below left we see Harry's chrysalis, now empty but with no obvious exit, and at right we see Tom's, still a brighter green and yellow. 

       We have so rarely seen the true Black Swallowtail in our garden. It is a small miracle that our best view comes from one being born here. It brings such joy and wonder. 

        Despite the rainy weather, when given a break in the clouds we have been seeing many more butterflies. Most engagingly, between showers our garden has been full of yellow and black Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, with three or four feeding at once, sampling the Butterfly Bushes, the Lantana, the Coneflowers and the Marigolds, among others. Yesterday, some visitors passing by the garden were treated to two Tigers dancing in the air together all around  the flowers, across the stream, and even over their heads. A magical moment.
        Close-up on a flower, they can also look like an alien spaceship!

       The Pearl Crescent, below, sipped from the Marigolds we grew from seed, which makes Rick feel very proud!

     Eastern Tiger Swallowtails also come in black, and we had one of those too. Another dark one, the Spicebush Swallowtail, below, is boldly colored under the wing and flutters constantly while perching on the blooms. The long straw-like extension pulling nectar from the flower is called a proboscis, and is more like a wick than a straw. They are incredibly precise in how they use it.

         We don't know exactly what is happening when the swallowtails dance in midair, but this pair danced for minutes, and we will leave you with a couple more shots. 
          Come back soon for updates on Tom, and maybe the wayward brother Dick will pop up somewhere!