American Snout Butterfly — Image by kenne
As seen in this image, American Snouts often perch on branches as if to imitate a dead leaf. This small, relatively dull colored butterfly got its named because of the pronounced elongation of its labial palpi into a prominent snout — the better with which to suck.
— kenne
Desert Orangetip Butterfly — Photo-Artistry by kenne
“Curiously, light-loving GREEN plants reject the Sun’s GREEN light,
reflecting it back at you, which is why they look GREEN.”
— Neil deGrasse Tyson
A student holds a Two-tailed Swallowtail just after coming out of its cocoon.
Just outside the Sabino Canyon Visitors Center, A Junior Naturalist (7th grader) showed a Two-tailed Swallowtail with wings still curved, just having emerged from her cocoon. This image represents the last stage of a caterpillar morphing into a butterfly, which began with a very hungry caterpillar hatching from an egg. The caterpillar will spend this phase of its life stuffing itself with leaves, growing plumper and longer through a series of molts in which it sheds its skin. Then, one day the caterpillar stops eating, suspends itself upside down from a twig or leaf and spins itself a silky cocoon where the caterpillar digests itself, eventually emerging as a butterfly. Cool!!
— kenne
Images by kenne
More Signs of Spring In Sabino Canyon (Pipevine Swallowtail) — Image by kenne
Truth never dies. The ages come and go.
The mountains wear away, the stars retire.
Destruction lays earth’s mighty cities low;
And empires, states and dynasties expire;
But caught and handed onward by the wise,
Truth never dies.
— author unknown
Echo Azure Butteries — Image by kenne
— kenne
Swallowtail Silhouette — Photo-Artistry by kenne
— kenne
Giant Swallowtail — Photo-Artistry by kenne
— kenne
