Pretty Butterfly Few butterflies can rival the eastern tiger swallowtail with its large size, brilliant colors and strong flight. One of the largest, flashiest, easily-identified butterflies is now on the wing, the eastern tiger swallowtail. A butterfly has to be very special when it’s chosen as an official state butterfly. This exceptionally strong flier is the number one butterfly for at least the states of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia, and perhaps more. Mrs. Deen Day Smith of Georgia donated funds in memory of her late husband, Cecil B. Day, founder of the Days Inn motels, to build a magnificent butterfly center at Callaway Gardens near Pine Mountain in the west-central part of the state. The official dedication on April 4, 1988 coincided with the establishment of the eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly as Georgia’s state butterfly. Mrs. Smith was deeply impressed upon learning that the ancient Greeks believed the butterfly emerging from the chrysalis represented man’s metamorphosis from the mortal to the eternal, and this is what led her to honor the butterfly as she did. Surely the tiger swallowtail, ranging in size from four to five inches wide and three and a half to four and a half inches high, is the most recognizable swallowtail of several species in Wisconsin. It has a black body with yellow stripes running laterally along both sides. Upper and lower wings are yellow accented by black bands resembling tiger stripes. At the edges of all four wings are distinct black bands with yellow markings. The two lower wings have blue and orange spots near the tails. Interestingly a dark female form has evolved, in addition to the regular yellow and black color, thought to be in mimicry of the pipevine swallowtail. Both forms have a lot of iridescent blue scales on the hind or lower wing. The dark form is fairly common in the southern half of Wisconsin but very uncommon to nonexistent in the northern region. There is a sub-species of the eastern tiger swallowtail, the Canadian tiger swallowtail, that conceivably could be seen in our region. It is best identified by its smaller size and a more delicate yellow coloration. This butterfly’s wingspan is seldom more than three and one-half inches. The larger eastern tiger swallowtail is double brooded with the second brood occurring in August. Those you are seeing now, the first brood, are expected to be around for up to six weeks following the first sighting. Like many other species of butterflies, this one is described as a short-season butterfly. I associate the first appearance of these popular butterflies with the wild blackberries being in bloom. Eggs are laid on the leaves of several trees including poplars (aspens, cottonwood and balsam poplar), mountain ash, birch, cherry, ash, basswood, maple and willow with ash and wild cherry being the most common larval food. Based upon the facts that males are a richer yellow and lack the greater amount of blue scales on the underside of the hind wings, the one that gave me a merry chase this morning was a female. All I was trying to do was photograph her! She flitted and fidgeted, flew, stopped momentarily in the shade of a zinnia, then quickly fluttered out of camera range to a new and wetter spot in the sun – always a few feet ahead of me. She finally gave in and posed to perfection as though saying, "OK, get it over with!" Soon she was off for the sunny edge of the woods where she landed twenty feet up in a sugar maple. Apparently her intentions were to absorb some early morning heat from the sun. What makes the eastern tiger swallowtail so interesting to study is the great variety of color forms it may produce. Certainly it is the most variable swallowtail. They can range from small northern specimens to large southern ones. Some show all degrees of black in the wing scales, so much that the striped pattern is completely hidden. However, it is thought that there is no relation between color, locality and season. Study has shown that usually the females are larger and darker than the males. The tiger swallowtail is thought of as the American insect, in much the same way as the bald eagle is thought of as the American bird. It was the first American insect pictured in Europe. A drawing was sent to England in 1587 by John White who was commander of the third Sir Walter Raleigh expedition to Virginia. Based upon many butterfly sightings thus far this spring I’m predicting a spectacular summer this year for these "sun worshippers" that don’t sting, bite, chase after you and cannot transmit diseases. Bear in mind that butterflies are light and delicate but are powerful reminders of how fragile our planet Earth is. Enjoy these winged gems to the fullest! This column appeared in the Door County Advocate on 06/28/2003. © Copyright 2003 Roy Lukes. All rights reserved.