Not enough of us have yet enjoyed that moment. That moment when its mid-morning or a bit later, and you’ve reflected on your success. You’ve seen and shot swallowtails: Black, Spicebush, Tigers yellow and back form as well as a Pipevine; Ladies: painted and American; Satyrs: little wood and Carolina; brushfoots: snouts, buckeyes, admirals, pearl crescents and maybe silvery checkerspots; yellows and whites: cabbage white, orange sulphur, cloudless sulphur, checkered white and skippers, so many different skippers.

That’s when we begin to slowly close the book on a productive morning. That’s about the time that I reach into my LLBean backpack for my reward! a Coco Loco bar.

What! Huh? Into the pocket goes the 1/2 each coco loco bar, for something big, very big has just flown in. Very big. Those oversize wings provide immediate ID. A Giant Swallowtail has come to nectar!! In it flies, every go elegantly moving its wings in flight.

This one? It came out of the treed perimeter of the Butterflies & Blooms in the Briar Patch Habitat, Eatonton, Georgia., flew briefly and assumed this leafy perch.

What should you do when a Giant flies in? 1) Look in wonderment. 2) Thank G-d for continuing to enable such beauty and grace. 3) Make a slow ‘Technique‘ approach (see our Technique section) and shoot, shoot, shoot.

This instant one? I scored good general form, clearly show the yellow bands criss-crossing on each forewing, tease with those deep red spots on the hindwings and nicely show the yellow spots on the 2 tails.

Jeff