During a busy weekend away from the computer (celebrating two birthdays
in my own family, including one which coincides with VN/Shakespeare's),
we visited the outskirts of Gatlinburg, TN (where VN and Vera went
lepping around his birthday in 1959). However, we did not see
butterflies there (we were racing little cars at a speed track). That
was the 22nd (the anniversary of VN's birth); on the 23rd (the
anniversary of all of VN's actual birthdays), we saw, in our own yard,
a bright-yellow male Tiger Swallowtail (Pterourus glaucus)
dancing through the yard and around the bushes with a dark-form
female. The female has both light and dark forms, and the latter of
these is considered a mimic of the noxious Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus
philenor). Alas my camera was not to hand, but if you can imagine
the sight of a large yellow Swallowtail twirling round and round with
its shadow, then you have got the picture.
Happy belated birthday, VN!
Stephen Blackwell