Today
I was sitting on the front porch trying to edit this book that I’m working
on. I kept seeing a male black
swallowtail sailing back and forth over the lantanas and rue. I believe he was “protecting his territory,”
because every time a giant swallowtail would enter his airspace, he would chase
it away. He kept it up for hours, and I
finally snapped a picture of him as he took a short rest.
There were almost no butterflies this
spring. The spring was long, but it was
also cool. And butterflies love the
heat. Now that it is hot, there are
butterflies everywhere, especially giant swallowtails attracted by the orange
trees. I saw some giant swallowtail
caterpillars on an orange branch the other day.
There are also gulf fritillaries, variegated fritillaries, black
swallowtails and the occasional pipevine swallowtail, sleepy oranges and other
oranges and yellows, cabbage moths, various blues and greys, and the occasional
mourning cloak (their larvae like to make chrysalises on the apple trees).
The
male black swallowtail ended up distracting me, as I watched him soar about and
chase the giant swallowtails. There was
also a very tame hummingbird who kept flying around the porch visiting trumpet vine
flowers. The top of his head was covered
with pollen. And great rain clouds
appeared in the distance, but we didn’t get any rain.
