Stalking The Wild Spicebush Swallowtail

Now that the puppies are 2 weeks old (hard to believe), they are now on a 3-hr feeding schedule which gives me enough time between feedings to actually leave the house for things like grocery shopping, lawn-mowing and, for fun, stalking the backyard butterflies including a male and female Spicebush Swallowtail. These guys are hard to shoot because they don't stay on the flowers all that long and it's hard to get close to them. But, for some reason, today this guy let me get fairly close and seemed inclined to hang out with me. First, a side view.



And a 3/4 from the rear. Jim Poor, I think it's OK to shoot them from this angle if they're not show butterflies .



Hope you enjoy viewing these as much as I enjoyed shooting them.

Jim

Hey Jim,

These are very nice! I get tired just listening to the amount of work you are putting into these puppies!

James

James,
for the first 3-4 weeks, it's a full-time job. Their day goes like this: wake up, eat, get cleaned up by grandpa/grandma (we don't go on our own just yet), sleep for 3 hours. Wake up, eat for 30-minutes to an hour, get cleaned up, sleep. Continue for 24 hours. Occasionally the routine is broken up by getting weighed and getting ribbon changes. Meanwhile, mom (Juneau) eats 6 times a day/night to maintain her ability to produce enough milk for these vultures. At 4 to 4.5 weeks, we'll start the weaning process by introducing some mushy solid food into their diets. That's also when the "poop events" start in earnest . At 5 weeks, they'll start going outside which will make it easier to maintain the whelping box and we usually set up Xpens in and outside so they have more room to roam, play, etc. But those first 3 to 4 weeks are a lot of work. They are a tremendous amount of fun but we are truly sleep-deprived at the moment.

Jim