Zebra Swallowtail

Just a common butterfly, but I like butterflies as they are a sign you are on an organic farm or in an area without too much spraying.

The Zebra Swallowtail, Eurytides marcellus, was first named in 1777 when the country was only one year old, and it's pretty common east of the Mississippi.  It is in a different genus from the other swallowtails, which are Papilio.

Zebra Swallowtail caterpillars live off off the the leaves of bushes in the pawpaw family of plants, while the adult butterflies feed off of milkweed, blackberry, lilac, mutliflora rose, redbud, verbena, and dogbane -- all plants you are likely to find along forested river and creek bottoms of the kind I was hunting Sunday.
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