Monday, July 6, 2009

Dance of the Palamedes


On a hike in False Cape State Park, I spied this male Palamedes Swallowtail (Papilio palamedes) patrolling along the jeep trail in search of a female. Curious, I followed him for a few minutes. He located a female and they began a mating "dance", fluttering and flirting in small loops of flight around each other. The habitat of the palamedes is the forests, savannas, and swamps of the Atlantic and Gulf coastal regions. Sadly, this male was rejected and they both flew off in different directions.

I used some of my photographs to made a short movie of the mating dance that can be found here.

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