Swallowtails and a Monarch

Two yellow Tiger Swallowtails (one of them a male, as you can tell by the absence of blue on the lower wings) and one black, therefore a female, and one lone Monarch (also a male - see the little spot on the vein on his lower wing?) among the flowers Wednesday afternoon.

There are two in the picture above, though one's hard to spot.

This one's female - see all the blue? It's even clearer on the shot below.


Above, a smaller brown butterfly is out of focus behind the female swallowtail. I don't remember noticing it and I don't know what it was!

This one's male - compare the lower wings with the one above.




All black Tiger Swallowtails are female; all males are yellow, but so are some females.

Note her almost totally missing lower right wing!