Mariton: Butterflies

The last Butterfly Walk for the season was held on Tuesday.  We are finally seeing good numbers of Spicebush Swallowtails (Papilio troilus).  Their main food plant is Spicebush (Lindera benzoin), but they also like Sassafras (Sassafras albidum).  Both plants are abundant at Mariton.

Probably the highlight was this female Eastern-tailed Blue (Everes comyntas).  This is another tiny butterfly that is worth a closer look.  Carole Mebus took both photos, one with the wings closed, and the other with the wings open.