Black Swallowtail (Papilio Polyxenes)

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Michele saw this guy (gal?) on one of our plants a bit ago. Striking caterpillar specimen. We didn't know what he was, but luckily have on hand Caterpillars of Eastern North America by David Wagner who identified it as a Black Swallowtail butterfly.


The book pictures are excellent, the write-ups informative, and the process of identification usually takes at least one full pass through all 512 pages. Sometimes it takes two; it goes quicker than you might think though. 

Not as abundant as they once were they can still be found up and down the coast from Canada to south Florida and into Texas. I thought it beautiful and, ironically, just read that part of its camouflage is resembling bird droppings. Go figure . . . ;->


Note the "orange horns" in the top pic. This is their alarm response and I think he got bothered by the camera flash and me twisting and turning the stems to get different angle. After a few minutes of shooting, I left him alone. 
Andy

Click to see a closer view.