It’s been a good butterfly year. I’ve had numerous monarchs, swallowtails, hairstreaks and skippers visiting my flowerbeds, and I’ve even gotten a chance to see some less common species.
On a hike at Kettle Moraine State Park a few weeks ago, a friend spotted this gorgeous Giant Swallowtail in a butterfly garden. I’ve never seen one of these before.
And there’s a phrase I picked up from birders a few years ago that I wished I’d applied to butterflies a few weeks ago. “Bird the bird!” they say, meaning when you’re birding don’t just notice a bird from a distance and assume it’s “just another House Sparrow” or “it’s just a robin.” Get closer or use binoculars or your camera to find out for sure what kind of bird it is. That’s how you find the more interesting species and rare visitors.
Recently I spent the day inside writing and getting chores done, but every time I looked out the window, I noticed a black butterfly flitting around the yard and flowers. In the late afternoon I even watched it get into a spat with an Eastern Swallowtail. But I never attempted to check out the creature any further. And it was only dumb luck that when I did go outside to snap a photo of a particular flower in the afternoon, this butterfly (that I assumed was a Black Swallowtail) flitted by and landed on a nearby zinnia. I took a few photos of it and continued what I was doing.
I didn’t check my photos until later in the day, and that’s when I realized that the butterfly was NOT a Black Swallowtail. I had to enlist the help of others in a local online naturalist group to verify what I thought had visited my yard—a Pipevine Swallowtail. Yes, that’s what it was.
I’m a bit disappointed in myself for making assumptions. This particular butterfly is not common in Wisconsin, and this is the first one I’ve ever seen in my life. Had I been paying better attention I could’ve seen and gotten a photo of the butterfly spreading its wings which would’ve showcased a beautiful iridescent blue-green coloring.
I looked for the creature in the evening, but it had disappeared. The next day I got excited when I noticed a black butterfly in the yard once again. I wasted no time grabbing my camera and high-tailing it outside to check it out. Ironically, this one was a Black Swallowtail:
I’ve also seen plenty of monarchs this summer. What I haven’t seen before is a monarch fighting with a hummingbird.
This one participated in an aerial battle with a female hummingbird over some bee balm flowers. Up into the air they went, twisting and diving at each other. They tousled like that on and off for about 30 seconds. Then the monarch eventually conceded and flew to a nearby astilbe to rest.
You never know what you’ll see when you’re paying attention to the nature in your backyard!