Category Archives: Insects et al

Peek-A-Boo!

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Tuesday, August 8, 2023,

This is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly that I spied in the gardens at Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown, NY. As some of you know, I am a long-time volunteer there. I do various things for SB. Sometimes, I give talks and tours. Other times, I help with the feeding of animals or, maybe, I check water qualities for the fish or Axolotyl tanks. But, in my spare time, when I’m not playing with Penny, one of our Red Foxes, or a Possum, or one of the countless other animals we have, I will sometimes bring out my camera and take photos. These two pics were taken while I was goofing off.  JK.

JK

Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly on a Zinnia Flower

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Sunday, September 25, 2022,

This is a female Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly alighting upon a Zinnia flower. Do you know how I know? It is solely because I know several people that are much smarter and more informed than I am. To be quite honest, most of the folks I am acquainted with tend to be much more intelligent than myself. Of course, that’s not a very high bar. 🙂 

Friends of mine were able to identify both the flower and the butterfly for me. Actually, I had correctly guessed that this was an Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly, but my friend Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, who is a scientist at Cornell University, was able to further identify this beautiful critter as female. How cool is that? I told you I knew smart people. 🙂 JK