Commentary, nature, Photography

Butterfly Beauty

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Penticton is home to the western tiger swallowtail butterfly. They are primarily yellow with black stripes and also some blue sections near the distinctive “swallowtail,” so-called because of their similarity to the swallow family of birds.

I saw this one while walking through the Penticton rose garden.

Unfortunately, their numbers are declining because of pesticide use and measures are being taken in some areas to support them, including raising them from caterpillars.

Happy Monday.

22 thoughts on “Butterfly Beauty”

  3. These yellow swallowtails are so beautiful to see. We saw them all over the flowers in Vancouver and even up near Squamish. We do see them in Bunchberry, but they are very hard to capture sitting still. Happy Monday Lynette. Allan

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    1. Thank you, Allan. Yes, they are quite hard to capture. Several times I was just ready to click when the butterfly lifted off again. It was also windy which lent more interest! Glad to hear that you saw so many; I have seen lots of them here, too. I hope this indicates that their numbers are recovering.

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    1. Apparently the monarch butterflies are not doing well at all but apparently the butterfly sanctuaries are beginning to turn that around. Monarchs are prevalent to the east of us, but not here. Butterfly numbers seem to be dropping everywhere, unfortunately.

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    1. Yes, tent caterpillars are a type of moth. They can denude a stand of trees of all their leaves in a day or two and will eat lots of types of plant leaves as well. My mother used to use garlic-infused water in a sprayer to control them. It was smelly but effective!

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