I snapped those five photos in the space of just over a minute.
On m way downtown to finally catch Odd Lot's Friday Mystery Dinner Theatre, I jumped out of my house to hurry along...
and was caught in my tracks by this beauty flitting in the lantana...
and followed it along, madly clicking the button on my cell phone camera...
not wanting to lose time with the fluttering guest...
until it finally took its leave and headed off to distant flora.
Wow.
I had thought for years that these annual visitors were monarch butterflies.
That is not the case, however.
All monarchs are orange.
But that doesn't mean this insect is not also an interstate traveler.
Yes, as it turns out, this butterfly is the state butterfly of Georgia, Delaware, North and South Carolina, and Virginia.
It is the Eastern tiger swallowtail, or papilio glaucus...
and the one I most adore is the female, with her blue spots.
Beautiful!
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