Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus)

May 26^th, 2016. While I was looking for wildflowers at the Broad River Wildlife Management Area, I encountered this… 

Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus) feeding on Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) flowers. It was in perpetual motion, settling momentarily on one flower and then flying to another. Occasionally, it would fly away as if in search for another plant, only to return to this plant again. I was lucky enough to ‘catch’ it for a rare instant when it stopped with its wings fully extended.

Reference: 

Butterflies and Moths of North America: Eurytides marcellus

April: Butterfly Afternoons At Scull Shoals

During April, we were treated to a number of different butterflies along a road in the Scull Shoals Experimental Forest in Greene County, Georgia.

The road runs beside a deciduous forest above a swamp. The butterflies feed along the edge of the woods or find minerals in the gravel road.

Eastern Tailed-blue (Cupido comyntas). Superficially, Eastern Tailed-blues look like Spring or Summer Azures. However, they have tiny tails on their wings. After landing, they will open their wings rather than keeping them closed like the Azures do.

Pipevine Swallowtails (Battus philenor). The upper butterfly arrived first; the lower one arrived later. They were getting minerals from the gravel. They danced around each other for a while before the upper one flew off.We don't see these butterflies very often and it was a treat to see two at the same time.

Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos). We saw a lot of these this Spring.

Summer Azure (Celastrina neglecta). At first I thought this was a Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon) but a close inspection of the photograph confirmed that it was a Summer Azure. The azures sit with wings folded and rarely open them for any length of time. The markings on the underside of the wings are lighter on the Summer Azure than on the Spring Azure.

Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus). This was a fortunate catch. I’d photographed a zebra in the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge a few months ago but most have been continuously on the move and rarely settling long enough to photograph. This zebra settled on a muscadine leaf for several minutes before it flew off into the woods.

Most of the butterflies were looking for moisture on leaves and ignoring the…

Hawthorne (Crataegus sp.) bush

American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis). This American Lady worked the hawthorne flowers for quite a while.

We’re beginning to see new butterflies in late April-May. More of these later…
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Identification resources:
Michael Beohm, West Central Georgia Butterflies:
- Eastern Tailed-blue (Cupido comyntas)
- Pipevine Swallowtails (Battus philenor)
- Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos)
- Summer Azure (Celastrina neglecta)
- Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus)
- American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis)

Related posts:
- Eastern Tailed-Blue (Cupido comyntas)
- Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos)
- Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge: Late Winter Surprises (Part 1)
- Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon)

Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge: Late Winter Surprises (Part 1)

March 10th, 2012. On our recent trip to the Piedmont NWR a couple of weeks ago, we saw Dimpled Troutlilies just beginning to bloom. We figured that they’d be full bloom now so we drove back down to photograph them.

We took a slightly different route from our last trip. We took the route from GA-83 south on Starr Road through the Oconee National Forest into the NWR. We drove through Tribble Fields to the bridge over Little Falling Creek and then north to Pond 2A. We returned the way we’d come and then took the first road on the right down to the Round Tree – Juliette Rd, drove east and then back into the NWR on the first road on the left. From there we drove north to the intersection with Sugar Hill Road, turned west and forded Stalking Head Creek. We then drove north and took the first road on the right to ford Stalking Head Creek again, east past a small pond and southeast to meet Sugar Hill Road again and then east to GA-11.

We didn’t really expect to see too much but we were surprised.

Juvenal’s Duskywing (Errynis juvenalis). At first we only saw a couple when we stopped. However, a dozen or more where gathered on the sand just east of the bridge over Little Little Falling Creek, sipping minerals from the sand.

Field Pansy (Viola bicolor). Viola plants forming a carpet by the side of the road.

A closer view of this viola

*****

Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus). It was a real treat to finally be able to photograph this butterfly. They don’t occur around where we live. We’d seen several as we drove south on Starr Road but they were on the move and didn’t settle. This butterfly was also sipping minerals from the sand. Once it had settled, it let me walk very close to it. I was almost standing over it when I took these shots.

*****

False Garlic (Nothoscordum bivalve). This is one of my favorite wildflowers of the Spring. Its flowers are so simple and clean. Sometimes it blooms again in the Fall. These were blooming near a small stream that flowed into Little Falling Creek.

Pond 2A. The road ends at the pond. The water level was higher than we’ve seen it for a while; the water was lapping the deck of the fishing pier.

We finished this leg of our trip as we crossed back over the bridge at Little Falling Creek
To be continued…
Click on an image to view a larger image

Identification resources:
- Westcentral Georgia Butterflies by Michael Beohm: Juvenal’s Duskywing (Errynis juvenalis)
- Southeastern Flora: Field pansy (Viola bicolor)
- Westcentral Georgia Butterflies by Michael Beohm: Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus)
- Southeastern Flora: False Garlic (Nothoscordum bivalve)

Related Posts
- Piedmont NWR: The First Dimpled Troutlily (Erythronium umbilicatum) Of Spring
- Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge: October Wildflowers (Part 1)
- Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge: October Wildflowers (Part 2)
- Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge: October Wildflowers (Part 3)
- 2010: Year Of The Wildflower – Wildflower Index