Despite our periodic winter heatwaves, it seems early for butterflies but over the past month I've seen quite a few of them. Not in any mass numbers mind you but they definitely weren't figments of my imagination. Yesterday, as I sat at my office desk, I glanced outside and saw a large black and yellow butterfly flitting about just outside the window. I didn't immediately jump up and run outside with my camera as I assumed it'd be gone before I could get out there but, when it persisted in drinking nectar from the Lantana flowers I decided, what the heck, I'd try to catch a photo.
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| This is a giant swallowtail butterfly (Papilio cresphontes), reportedly the largest butterfly in North America with wingspans ranging from 4-6 inches |
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| Lantana is one of its favorite sources of nectar and I have plenty of that in bloom at the moment |
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| This one flitted around the north end of the garden for an extended period but it repeatedly returned to this Lantana, making it nominally easier to get a few decent photos. I even had time to run back into the house for my telephoto lens. |
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| Their usual habitats are deciduous forests and citrus orchards, neither of which you can find in my area; however, like us and our next door neighbors, I suspect many people nearby have citrus trees so maybe it still fits the bill. |
While I've seen these butterflies before, they're more common in the eastern part of the country than they are here in Southern California. I understand that they're considered pests by Florida citrus growers as the caterpillars can damage fresh foliage and young trees. The larvae are sometimes referred to as "bird poop caterpillars" because of their unique appearance, which provides camouflage from predators.
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All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party