Giant Swallowtail makes a visit

Well, if you want a sign of climate change, this is it. I found a Giant Swallowtail butterfly in my garden this afternoon. What a large, gorgeous butterfly!

I had to use the high shutter speed setting on my camera for a lot of these, because the butterfly does not sit still! According to the  Government Canada "Butterflies of Canada" website,  "It is such a large butterfly that it continually vibrates its wings while feeding at flowers so that it does not tilt the blossom." 

I can vouch for that! This one was constantly quivering like it was in caffeine withdrawal!

The Giant Swallowtail is the largest butterfly found in Canada. It has resident in southwestern Ontario (especially along Lake Erie) for a long time, but out here in far eastern Ontario, it's new and exciting. Here's an Ottawa Citizen article about all the excitement.

It was a fluke I even saw this one today. I was sitting at my computer, and actually saw the butterfly in the reflection of my office window on my computer screen! It was fluttering around the window. I grabbed my camera and went outside, and sure enough, it was over in the flower bed with all the phlox, conefowers, bee balm and other things I've planted with pollinators in mind.

Here it is, nose-down (do butterflies have noses?) in the white flox.

And the caterpillars look like bird poo...

Photo from Wikipedia.

I was very excited to see this large, beautiful butterfly in my garden today.

Okay, I know I'm overdue for cat and dog and chicken and duck photos. They're coming!