Not a Swallowtail, but a Great Mimic!

I found this Red-Spotted Purple Butterfly (Limenitis arthemis astyanax) on the edge of a large tract of woods of Mulberry Road, near Lanier Road. It was perched low on the branches, in the shade on a hot afternoon. It didn't seem concerned with me walking up on it and moving the branches to get a clear shot with my camera. It lingered while I got my pictures and never did fly off!

From what I read online, the caterpillar looks like bird poop, and the adult coloring mimics the poisonous Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor). Common throughout much of the eastern United States, it prefers to eat rotten food and to drink from mud puddles.

Flycatcher fledgling friend filmed July 7, 2009 at Lake Lanier, Martinsville, Virginia

Damselflies, Dragonflies and Butterfly at Lake Lanier July7, 2009

Double click images to magnify them. Great detail!

? Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)

Resting on the empty shell of a dragonfly nymph.

Mating damselflies. With the male clinging to the back of the female's head, they flew in tandem.

Notice the difference in the wings of the damselfly and dragonfly?

Pachydiplax longipennis? Blue dasher dragonfly

The damselfly holds its resting wings vertically; the dragonfly extends its wings horizontally.

? White-tailed Dragonfly (Plathemis Lydia)

? Slaty Skimmer Dragonfly (Libellula incesta)

? Widow skimmer dragonfly (Libellula luctuosa)

This is just the empty shell left beind by a dragonfly nymph.

Eastern tailed blue butterfly (Everes comyntas)

One of the most common butterflies in our area, it flits erratically,

usually low to the ground and is about the size of a dime.