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Pipevine Swallowtail I took several photos of this creature and it rarely stopped flapping its wings. Unfortunately most of my photos are out of focus. I did post on iNaturalist and several people identified it as a Pipevine Swallowtail. It does has a purple-blue tone on the hind wings, with a muted blue yelllow and white dotted tone on the ventral wing. What didn&#039;t match the species is that the abdomen is somewhat pink compared to the black/blue shown on other photos of Pipevine. Probably it&#039;s a female. The wings overall are more of a brown than black as well.<br /> <figure class="photo"><a href="https://www.jungledragon.com/image/103116/pipevine_swallowtail.html" title="Pipevine Swallowtail"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.jungledragon.com/images/4330/103116_thumb.JPG?AWSAccessKeyId=05GMT0V3GWVNE7GGM1R2&Expires=1759968010&Signature=gKQlKPdqFI6vVXEa3C%2FoQvzdjMM%3D" width="146" height="152" alt="Pipevine Swallowtail Found in City Park with plenty of trees and wildflowers. A few people in iNaturalist identified this as a Pipevine Swallowtail. You can see here that the markings are muted, and the abdomen has a pink tint to it. I did not alter the colors on this, so I am wondering if it could be a female?<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/103114/pipevine_swallowtail.html<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/103121/pipevine_swallowtail.html Battus philenor,Fall,Geotagged,Pipevine Swallowtail,United States" /></a></figure><br /> <figure class="photo"><a href="https://www.jungledragon.com/image/103121/pipevine_swallowtail.html" title="Pipevine Swallowtail"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.jungledragon.com/images/4330/103121_thumb.JPG?AWSAccessKeyId=05GMT0V3GWVNE7GGM1R2&Expires=1759968010&Signature=4FDJIMovHUFpHY4DWO38ebyjWy0%3D" width="200" height="152" alt="Pipevine Swallowtail Adding one more photo although it&#039;s blurry. This shows the coloration of the body and wings more accurately.<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/103114/pipevine_swallowtail.html<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/103116/pipevine_swallowtail.html Battus philenor,Fall,Geotagged,Pipevine Swallowtail,United States" /></a></figure> Battus philenor,Fall,Geotagged,Pipevine Swallowtail,United States Click/tap to enlarge

Pipevine Swallowtail

I took several photos of this creature and it rarely stopped flapping its wings. Unfortunately most of my photos are out of focus. I did post on iNaturalist and several people identified it as a Pipevine Swallowtail. It does has a purple-blue tone on the hind wings, with a muted blue yelllow and white dotted tone on the ventral wing. What didn't match the species is that the abdomen is somewhat pink compared to the black/blue shown on other photos of Pipevine. Probably it's a female. The wings overall are more of a brown than black as well.

Pipevine Swallowtail Found in City Park with plenty of trees and wildflowers. A few people in iNaturalist identified this as a Pipevine Swallowtail. You can see here that the markings are muted, and the abdomen has a pink tint to it. I did not alter the colors on this, so I am wondering if it could be a female?<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/103114/pipevine_swallowtail.html<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/103121/pipevine_swallowtail.html Battus philenor,Fall,Geotagged,Pipevine Swallowtail,United States

Pipevine Swallowtail Adding one more photo although it's blurry. This shows the coloration of the body and wings more accurately.<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/103114/pipevine_swallowtail.html<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/103116/pipevine_swallowtail.html Battus philenor,Fall,Geotagged,Pipevine Swallowtail,United States

    comments (4)

  1. View Ferdy Christant's profile
    Ferdy Christant
    Lion
    View Lion class
    Deb, may I know which macro lens you have? Posted 4 years ago
    1. View DebRich's profile
      DebRich
      Lion
      View Lion class
      It's a 70-300mm Nikkor lens for a Nikon D5100. It's not the lens, it's me. I use manuel focus on the macro setting and I don't have a good working tripod, so I'm slow to focus and a little shaky : ) And sometimes the continuous shoot gets stuck. Posted 4 years ago, modified 4 years ago
      1. View Ferdy Christant's profile
        Ferdy Christant
        Lion
        View Lion class
        Thanks! So if I understand you correctly, you use the macro setting (picture mode) with the 70-300mm?
        Any reason why you're not using auto focus? Does it not work well?

        As for being shaky, I'm somewhat shaky myself. Some methods to help counter it:

        - Improve camera holding technique. Not sure if applicable, because I don't know how you're holding it currently. If you google "camera holding technique" you may be able to pick up some tips. One I use a lot is to put my elbow at the top of my hip, this kind of makes a "human tripod".

        - Check if you have vibrance reduction / image stabilization enabled if your camera supports it.

        - Increase shutter speed. I don't think this is the real problem with some of your shots, but if you think photos are unsharp due to your movement or the subject movement, you need a faster shutter speed.

        - Simply shoot lots. Especially when it concerns macro, don't be afraid to just take many shots. I even take lots whilst using auto focus, and manual focus will be even more difficult, and you likely require more shots.

        Above all I'd be interested in your manual focus situation, could be the key to improvement.         Posted 4 years ago
  3. View DebRich's profile
    DebRich
    Lion
    View Lion class
    I take about 150 photos at a time, however I think that the pipevine and Fruitillary photos had even more of a problem because I was in a very shaded park, with lots of hills and valleys, so I couldn't get good footing. I also had my purse on my shoulder. So there were a few things that knocked me off of my game. Comparing these with the Cassius blue are quite significantly different. Believe me, I'm a bit emabarassed for posting them. (I was before you said anything, so don't feel bad.) The lens does have vibration correction, but both camera and lens are so old, they probably don't work as well as they should.

    If it's not too windy this weekend, I will try more experimentation on the variables you mention and see how it goes. Thanks for your help.

     Posted 4 years ago

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The Pipevine Swallowtail

The Pipevine Swallowtail or Blue Swallowtail is a swallowtail butterfly found in North America and Central America. The butterflies are black with iridescent blue hind wings. They are found in many different habitats, but are most commonly found in forests.

Info 14 0
Similar species: Moths And Butterflies
Species identified by DebRich
View DebRich's profile

By DebRich

All rights reserved
Uploaded Oct 16, 2020. Captured Jan 28, 2012 15:50 in 1486 4th St, Floresville, TX 78114, USA.
country flag of United States of America Explore United States of America 39,948 9,641 8
  • NIKON D5100
  • f/7.1
  • 1/125s
  • ISO400
  • 270mm
Captured in the winter. More winter photos.