Wonderful to see cherry blossoms and butterflies! And hostas coming on, too. I'm still waiting but can't be far behind. I saw my first butterfly today.

https://www.butterfliesathome.com/tiger-swallowtail-butterfly.htm#:~:text=Tiger%20Swallowtail%20Coloration&text=Male%20Eastern%20Tiger%20Swallowtails%20are,tales%2C%20while%20males%20do%20not.

Male Eastern Tiger Swallowtails are always yellow, while females may be yellow or black. Females have a splash of iridescent blue wash on their tales, while males do not. Similar to the Western Tiger Swallowtail.

The black form is called dimorphic coloration, which adds a level of protection by mimicking the distasteful Pipevine Swallowtail. These females often exhibit a shadow of the "tiger" stripes. Males prefer yellow females, but the black form of the female is less attractive to predators.

I think this is very fascinating about the 2 different colors. I saw several pairs of black female and yellow males spiraling around each other in their mating ritual. Couldn't get a picture because they are just too fast.

Gorgeous photos!

The camera is an older Canon EOS Rebel T5i. It is light weight and has 3 different lenses, 18 megapixels. I use the one lens all the time but thought I would try the telephoto to get the butterflies. I have developed very shaky hands/essential tremors in the last 2 years, so it was a trial. I don't have to resize them because it is on the less pixel setting.

Thanks for sharing!

debra