Black swallowtails

[Dwayne Sabine]

A quick trip to the Mactaquac area in NB on Friday revealed very little butterfly activity.  A few each of Clouded Sulphurs and fresh Monarchs, but the highlight for me was seeing several very fresh Black Swallowtails, a species I see rarely and usually just single individuals. There was quite a bit of wild parsnip in the area, turning brown and going to seed, and I'm sure that influenced the relative abundance of Black Swallowtails at the site.