Western Tiger Swallowtail

Description:

I usually see at least 1-2 Tiger Swallowtail a day around my flowers during May through July. Their size, (wing span), is around 2.5 to 3.5 inches. They have beautiful markings of black and bright yellow on their wings and body with a touch of blue and red on the hind wings with a 1/2 to 3/4 inch long tip coming off the bottom of the hind wing.

Habitat:

They are frequent in my flower garden in the outskirts of the wooded suburbs, as well as woodlands, near rivers and streams. They start to arrive in early spring and start to disappear in mid to late summer.

Notes:

There are only two varieties of the “tiger” swallowtail, eastern and western. The eastern tiger is a little bigger and the coloring is a little different. Like most butterflies they feed on nectar from a wide variety of flowers.