Female Spice Bush Swallowtail Butterfly

Midmorning I went out to visit with Merry who was sunbathing and critter watching on the front piazza. She was transfixed watching something in the Butterfly bush trough the screens. I assumed it would be a busy hummingbird or a bumblebee. But, it was a gorgeous butterfly. I grabbed my camera and went out front figuring it would have fluttered away, but I managed about 60 shots, some rather nice. The white background is the house behind. 

I had a hard time deciding between this shot and the other wing folded one in the extras( I trashed some past extras to link what you see here). The one with open wings helped me establish that it is a female, although some sites I looked at were quite confusing. It stayed a long time on the bush, fighting off bees and bumblebees and a slight wind. There's plenty of Joe Pye Weed near the piazza as well, so it was very happy this sunny morning.

For the Record,
This day came in sunny and really pleasant after rain yesterday. The garden plants look very happy today. What a lift they got from the rainshowers this past week.

All hands wary. I have two pandemic reschedule, routine doctor appointments next month and a scheduled periodontist appointment. I'm nervous already about venturing out, but I need to keep them. 

Later this afternoon a Monarch female arrived for her portrait as well! You can see her in the extras.