Show-Off

I thought I had my blip earlier this morning, this LILY. But then I spotted this CURIOUS MILKWEED BUG. Then along came this SKIPPER, which was on my neighbors PepperBush.

I was having a bit of trouble making my blipping decision when I looked out my front window and saw a rather large butterfly sampling the Ironweed flowers in the front yard. Rushed out with the camera and was able to get a couple (of hundred) shots of this Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly. Swallowtails eat on the wing and are never still on a flower so they are just a little challenging to capture. The Pipeline's caterpillars have a habit of dining on distasteful host plants giving this butterfly an unpleasant flavor which birds will go out of their way to avoid. So... Several other native Florida Butterflies have evolved so that they resemble the Pipevine. This kind of copycatting is called Batesian Mimicry.