Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies and Pondhawk Dragonflies

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Red River Gorge, Kentucky; April, 2006.

One of my very early photos of a butterfly, taken more than six years ago, long before I decided to try to do Butterfly photography.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Rock Cut State Park, IL; 8/2/2009

Then again, three years ago, I captured another Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Above) in Rock Cut State Park.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, North Branch, Nippersink, McHenry County, IL; 6/10/2012.

(Above) is one of my latest shots of another Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.  It seems all of my older photos of butterflies, seem to have been these types of Swallowtails because they are easy to spot and very striking with their yellow and black tiger stripes.

Eastern Pondhawk Dragonflies
In addition to butterflies, I have also started to try my hand (finger?) at dragonfly photography.

Male Eastern Pondhawk, Deer Run Forest Preserve, Cherry Valley, IL; 7/1/2012.

Another Eastern insect with wings happen to be the Eastern Pondhawk (Above), one of the Midwest's more common dragonflies. The series of photos below will show the different shades of blues and greens that these Pondhawks will come in. Some males will have a green upper body (thorax) and head, with a blue tail and abdomen Like the one pictured (Above). Other males will be exclusively blue, some darker blue and some lighter blue.

Close up of a Male Eastern Pondhawk, Deer Run Forest Preserve, Cherry Valley, IL; 7/1/2012.

Same Dragonfly

A bluer male Eastern Pondhawk, Rock Cut State Park, Rock Cut State Park, Rockford, IL; 7/6/2012.

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A lighter colored Male Eastern Pondhawk, Rock Cut State Park, Rock Cut State Park, Rockford, IL; 7/6/2012.

Female Eastern Pondhawks (Below) are mostly green with some browns and light greens on their abdomen.

Female Eastern Pondhawk, Rock Cut State Park, Rock Cut State Park, Rockford, IL; 7/6/2012.

Female Eastern Pondhawk, Rock Cut State Park, Rock Cut State Park, Rockford, IL; 7/6/2012.

Pondhawks feed off of other insects. This female Eastern Pondhawk (Above) took the easy route. Instead of chasing down other insects, she was feeding off of insects that were caught in a spider web, like a buffet.